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Phenotypic plasticity facilitates resistance to climate change in a highly variable environment

  • Global change ecology - Original research paper
  • Published:
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Abstract

Increased summer drought will exacerbate the regeneration of many tree species at their lower latitudinal and altitudinal distribution limits. In vulnerable habitats, introduction of more drought-tolerant provenances or species is currently considered to accelerate tree species migration and facilitate forest persistence. Trade-offs between drought adaptation and growth plasticity might, however, limit the effectiveness of assisted migration, especially if introductions focus on provenances or species from different climatic regions. We tested in a common garden experiment the performance of Pinus sylvestris seedlings from the continental Central Alps under increased temperatures and extended spring and/or summer drought, and compared seedling emergence, survival and biomass allocation to that of P. sylvestris and closely related Pinus nigra from a Mediterranean seed source. Soil heating had only minor effects on seedling performance but high spring precipitation doubled the number of continental P. sylvestris seedlings present after the summer drought. At the same time, twice as many seedlings of the Mediterranean than the continental P. sylvestris provenance were present, which was due to both higher emergence and lower mortality under dry conditions. Both P. sylvestris provenances allocated similar amounts of biomass to roots when grown under low summer precipitation. Mediterranean seedlings, however, revealed lower phenotypic plasticity than continental seedlings under high precipitation, which might limit their competitive ability in continental Alpine forests in non-drought years. By contrast, high variability in the response of individual seedlings to summer drought indicates the potential of continental P. sylvestris provenances to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to E. Schnider, H. Bachofen, A. Burkart, K. Egger, S. Egli, R. Eppenberger, C. Hester, A. Joss, R. Maire, T. Reich and U. Wasem for field assistance and laboratory work. The rainshelter facility was designed and constructed by H. Herranhof and A. Moser, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Davos, Switzerland. Space and logistical support was provided by ARA Leuk und Umgebung. The study was supported by Grants 3100A0-118002 and 316000-121323 of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The experiment described in this manuscript complies with the current laws of Switzerland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Disturbance Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

    Sarah Richter, Tabea Kipfer, Thomas Wohlgemuth & Barbara Moser

  2. Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal y del Medio Natural, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Carlos Calderón Guerrero

  3. Institute for Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Jaboury Ghazoul

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  1. Sarah Richter
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  2. Tabea Kipfer
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  3. Thomas Wohlgemuth
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  5. Jaboury Ghazoul
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  6. Barbara Moser
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Correspondence to Barbara Moser.

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Communicated by Amy Austin.

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Richter, S., Kipfer, T., Wohlgemuth, T. et al. Phenotypic plasticity facilitates resistance to climate change in a highly variable environment. Oecologia 169, 269–279 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2191-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-011-2191-x

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