Summary1. According to the range limit hypothesis, the distribution of many temperate species is restricted by a trade-off between their capacity to survive winter extremes in the north (or high elevation) and their ability to compete with better-adapted species in the south (or low elevation range limits). This trade-off has important implications in forestry, particularly in the context of managed seed movement under climate change. 2. In this study, we aim to quantify trade-offs among growth, frost hardiness and timing of leaf senescence and bud break in populations of trembling aspen, Populus tremuloides Michx., which were observed in a large reciprocal transplant experiment across five planting sites in western Canada, including additional provenances from Minnesota. 3. After 10 years, we found pronounced increases in productivity as a result of long-distance transfers in a north-west direction. For example, provenances moved 1600 km north-west from Minnesota to central Alberta (a shift of 7°latitude to the north) produced almost twice the biomass of local sources. Similarly, provenances moved 800 km from central Alberta to north-east British Columbia (4°latitude north) also produced twice the biomass of local sources. 4. We further found that increased growth was not associated with lower survival rates. Bud break in provenances transferred north-west generally occurred slightly later than in local sources, suggesting decreased risk of spring frost injury. Leaf abscission was later in provenances transferred in a north-west direction, but they appeared to be very frost hardy, well ahead of very rare early fall frost events. 5. Synthesis and applications. This study demonstrated that assisted migration prescriptions have considerable potential to enhance forest productivity. In the case of aspen, even longdistance seed transfers in a north-west direction were successful. We conclude that benefits in productivity outweigh potential risks associated with northward transfer of aspen planting stock under both current and projected future climate conditions.

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Using species distribution models and information on genetic structure and within-population variance observed in a series of common garden trials, we reconstructed a historical biogeography of trembling aspen in North America. We used an ensemble classifier modelling approach (RandomForest) to reconstruct palaeoclimatic habitat for the periods 21,000, 14,000, 11,000 and 6,000 years before present. Genetic structure and diversity in quantitative traits was evaluated in common garden trials with 43 aspen collections ranging from Minnesota to northern British Columbia. Our main goals were to examine potential recolonisation routes for aspen from southwestern, eastern and Beringian glacial refugia. We further examined if any refugium had stable habitat conditions where aspen clones may have survived multiple glaciations. Our palaeoclimatic habitat reconstructions indicate that aspen may have recolonised boreal Canada and Alaska from refugia in the eastern United States, with separate southwestern refugia for the Rocky Mountain regions. This is further supported by a southeast to northwest gradient of decreasing genetic variance in quantitative traits, a likely result of repeated founder effects. Stable habitat where aspen clones may have survived multiple glaciations was predicted in Mexico and the eastern United States, but not in the west where some of the largest aspen clones have been documented.

Haematococcus pluvialis, as the best natural resource of astaxanthin, is widely used in nutraceuticals, aquaculture, and cosmetic industries. The purpose of this work was to compare the differences in astaxanthin accumulation between motile and nonmotile cells of H. pluvialis and to determine the relationship between the two cells and astaxanthin production. The experiment design was achieved by two different types of H. pluvialis cell and three different light intensities for an eight day induction period. The astaxanthin concentrations in nonmotile cell cultures were significantly increased compared to motile cell cultures. The increase of astaxanthin was closely associated with the enlargement of cell size, and the nonmotile cells were more conducive to the formation of large astaxanthin-rich cysts than motile cells. The cyst enlargement and astaxanthin accumulation of H. pluvialis were both affected by light intensity, and a general trend was that the higher the light intensity, the larger the cysts formed, and the larger the quantity of astaxanthin accumulated. In addition, the relatively low cell mortality rate in the nonmotile cell cultures indicated that the nonmotile cells have a stronger tolerance to photooxidative stress. We suggest that applying nonmotile cells as the major cell type of H. pluvialis to the induction period may help to enhance the content of astaxanthin and the stability of astaxanthin production.