Abstract
Plant populations of widely distributed species experience a broad range of environmental conditions that can be faced by phenotypic plasticity or ecotypic differentiation and local adaptation. The strategy chosen will determine a population's ability to respond to climate change. To explore this, we grew Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings from acorns collected at six selected populations from climatically contrasting localities and evaluated their response to drought and late season cold events. Maximum photosynthetic rate (A(max)), instantaneous water use efficiency (iWUE), and thermal tolerance to freeze and heat (estimated from chlorophyll fluorescence versus temperature curves) were measured in 5-month-old seedlings in control (no stress), drought (water-stressed), and cold (low suboptimal temperature) conditions. The observed responses were similar for the six populations: drought decreased A(max) and increased iWUE, and cold reduced A(max) and iWUE. All the seedlings maintained photosynthetic activity under adverse conditions (drought and cold), and rapidly increased their iWUE by closing stomata when exposed to drought. Heat and freeze tolerances were similarly high for seedlings from all the populations, and they were significantly increased by drought and cold, respectively; and were positively related to each other. Differences in seedling performance across populations were primarily induced by maternal effects mediated by seed size and to a lesser extent by idiosyncratic physiologic responses to drought and low temperatures. Tolerance to multiple stresses together with the capacity to physiologically acclimate to heat waves and cold snaps may allow Q. ilex to cope with the increasingly stressful conditions imposed by climate change. Lack of evidence of physiologic seedling adaptation to local climate may reflect opposing selection pressures to complex, multidimensional environmental conditions operating within the distribution range of this species.
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Claims 12
Claim · model-written summary
Drought decreased photosynthetic rate.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)
Quercus ilext0 - Treatment
- droughte0
- Outcome
- A(max)e0
- Direction
- decreasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“drought decreased A(max) and increased iWUE”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought increased instantaneous water use efficiency.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Treatment
- droughte0
- Outcome
- iWUEe0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“drought decreased A(max) and increased iWUE”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Cold reduced photosynthetic rate.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Treatment
- colde0
- Outcome
- A(max)e0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“cold reduced A(max) and iWUE”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Cold reduced water use efficiency.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Treatment
- colde0
- Outcome
- iWUEe0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“cold reduced A(max) and iWUE”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Seedlings maintained photosynthesis under drought and cold.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Outcome
- maintained photosynthetic activitye0
- Qualifier
- drought and colde0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“All the seedlings maintained photosynthetic activity under adverse conditions (drought and cold)”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought rapidly raised water use efficiency through stomatal closure.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Treatment
- droughte0
- Outcome
- iWUEe0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Qualifier
- closing stomatae0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“rapidly increased their iWUE by closing stomata when exposed to drought”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Heat and freeze tolerances were similarly high across populations.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Outcome
- Heat and freeze tolerancese0
- Direction
- similarly highe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Heat and freeze tolerances were similarly high for seedlings from all the populations”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought increased heat tolerance.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Treatment
- droughte0
- Outcome
- Heate1
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“they were significantly increased by drought and cold, respectively”
e1“Heat and freeze tolerances”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Cold increased freeze tolerance.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Treatment
- colde0
- Outcome
- freeze tolerancese1
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“they were significantly increased by drought and cold, respectively”
e1“Heat and freeze tolerances”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Heat and freeze tolerance were positively related.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Organ / stage
- seedlingse1
- Outcome
- Heat and freeze tolerancese1
- Direction
- positively relatede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“were positively related to each other”
e1“Heat and freeze tolerances were similarly high for seedlings”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Seed size mediated most population differences in seedling performance.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Outcome
- Differences in seedling performancee0
- Qualifier
- maternal effects mediated by seed sizee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Differences in seedling performance across populations were primarily induced by maternal effects mediated by seed size”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
Claim · model-written summary
Physiologic responses to drought and cold contributed less to population differences.
- Taxon
- Quercus ilex (L.)Quercus ilext0
- Outcome
- Differences in seedling performancee1
- Qualifier
- idiosyncratic physiologic responses to drought and low temperaturese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“to a lesser extent by idiosyncratic physiologic responses to drought and low temperatures”
e1“Differences in seedling performance across populations”
t0“Quercus ilex (L.) seedlings”
The same questions in other papers
drought · physiology: water · Quercus ilex (holly oak)Positive and negative results
4 in the opposite direction
- negative
- no effect
- negative
1 paper more in this group
See all 5 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.