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A phylogenetic comparative study of flowering phenology along an elevational gradient in the Canadian subarctic

  • Phenology – Milwaukee 2012
  • Published:
International Journal of Biometeorology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Climate change is affecting high-altitude and high-latitude communities in significant ways. In the short growing season of subarctic habitats, it is essential that the timing and duration of phenological phases match favorable environmental conditions. We explored the time of the first appearance of flowers (first flowering day, FFD) and flowering duration across subarctic species composing different communities, from boreal forest to tundra, along an elevational gradient (600–800 m). The study was conducted on Mount Irony (856 m), North-East Canada (54°90′N, 67°16′W) during summer 2012. First, we quantified phylogenetic signal in FFD at different spatial scales. Second, we used phylogenetic comparative methods to explore the relationship between FFD, flowering duration, and elevation. We found that the phylogenetic signal for FFD was stronger at finer spatial scales and at lower elevations, indicating that closely related species tend to flower at similar times when the local environment is less harsh. The comparatively weaker phylogenetic signal at higher elevation may be indicative of convergent evolution for FFD. Flowering duration was correlated significantly with mean FFD, with later-flowering species having a longer flowering duration, but only at the lowest elevation. Our results indicate significant evolutionary conservatism in responses to phenological cues, but high phenotypic plasticity in flowering times. We suggest that phylogenetic relationships should be considered in the search for predictions and drivers of flowering time in comparative analyses, because species cannot be considered as statistically independent. Further, phenological drivers should be measured at spatial scales such that variation in flowering matches variation in environment.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Łukasz Grewling and Jan F. Gogarten who made valuable comments on the manuscript. The study was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Northern Scientific Training Program and the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science. We also thank McGill Subarctic Research Station and Hardy B. Granberg for providing infrastructure and Claudel Fournier for his help with field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, Canada

    Malie Lessard-Therrien & T. Jonathan Davies

  2. Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Malie Lessard-Therrien

  3. Unit for Field-based Forest Research, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 360 30, Lammhult, Sweden

    Kjell Bolmgren

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  1. Malie Lessard-Therrien
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  2. T. Jonathan Davies
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  3. Kjell Bolmgren
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Correspondence to Malie Lessard-Therrien.

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Lessard-Therrien, M., Davies, T.J. & Bolmgren, K. A phylogenetic comparative study of flowering phenology along an elevational gradient in the Canadian subarctic. Int J Biometeorol 58, 455–462 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0672-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0672-9

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