Abstract
In recent decades, climate change has been faster in various parts of the world. Within species, to counter rapid climate changes shift of geographical area, individuals’ plastic responses or populations’ genetic adaptation might occur. The sub-Antarctic islands are subject to one of the most rapid climate changes on earth, with already visible impacts on native vegetation. Such might be the case of Lyallia kerguelensis a cushion plant strictly endemic to the Kerguelen Islands. In L. kerguelensis, necrotic parts were observed in cushions these last decades and possibly related to water stress. We analysed morphological variability of L. kerguelensis, including necrosis extent, across 19 populations spanning a wide range of environments across the Kerguelen Islands. Inter-population variations in the cushion surface area, shape and compactness were well explained by topography, degree of wind exposure, slope aspect, proportions of coarse sand and bare soil, and geographical distance between populations. All these variables are related to wind intensity and water availability. Moreover, in cushions with less than 10% necrosis in surface area, necrosis extent was positively correlated to soil sodium. Sodium availability might reduce the plant’s capacity for osmotic adjustment in face of other abiotic stresses, such as water stress. We conclude that cushion morphology may have the capacity to adjust to environmental variation, including aspects of climate change, but that cushion necrosis may be accelerated in the driest and most saline environments.
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Data availability
Images and R-Script are available at first author’s convenience. The datasets generated during the current study are available online on Osuris geonetwork. https://www.osuris.fr/geonetwork/srv/fre/catalog.search#/metadata/7528fbbb-e1ac-4db2-a179-f20d3f03ff83.
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Acknowledgements
The research project No 1116 PlantEvol (resp. F. Hennion) was performed at Kerguelen station and was supported by the French Polar Institute (IPEV). This research was also supported by CNRS IRP grant “AntarctPlantAdapt” (F. Hennion). We thank B. Labarrere (UMR ECOBIO, Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France), G. Bouger (UMS OSUR, Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France), F. Lamy, T. Robert, V. Normand (UMR ESE, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France), A. D'Hont (UMR AGAP, CIRAD, Montpellier, France), IPEV logistics and Réserve Naturelle of Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises for help in material and data collection during the four summer campaigns (2015-2019). We are grateful to L. Madec (UMR ECOBIO, Université de Rennes 1, Rennes, France) for help in statistical analyses, and P. Convey (BAS, Cambridge, UK) for his comments and corrections which improved a first version of the manuscript. We thank Chief Editor Dieter Piepenburg, P.C. le Roux (University of Pretoria) and two anonymous referees for their thorough comments that helped us improve the manuscript.
Funding
This research was supported by the French Polar Institute (IPEV, program 1116 PlantEvol) and CNRS (IRP grant “AntarctPlantAdapt”, F. Hennion). L.J.M. was supported by a PhD grant from the Ministry of Research and Education (France).
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LJM, FH, MT and TD conceived the ideas. FH and LJM collected data. TD and YR set up the photointerpretation method. LJM and TD analysed the data. LJM, FH and MT led the writing with a contribution from TD. All authors contributed to discussions. Following comments from the Editor and three reviewers, LJM, FH and MT revised the manuscript with contributions from TD and YR designed the map.
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Marchand, L.J., Tarayre, M., Dorey, T. et al. Morphological variability of cushion plant Lyallia kerguelensis (Caryophyllales) in relation to environmental conditions and geography in the Kerguelen Islands: implications for cushion necrosis and climate change. Polar Biol 44, 17–30 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02768-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02768-2