Phenotypic response of plants to simulated climate change in a long-term rain-manipulation experiment: a multi-species study

Abstract

Many species will need to adapt to the observed climate change in order to persist. However, research about adaptation or phenotypic plasticity in response to climate change is rare. In particular, field studies are lacking that impose artificial selection for a sufficiently long time to elicit changes in phenotypic and genotypic structure of populations. Here, we present findings for an 8-year field experiment with 16 annual plant species that tested potentially adaptive phenotypic responses to precipitation change. In both a Mediterranean and a semi-arid site, annual precipitation was manipulated (±30%) and phenotypic response was recorded. We measured flowering time as a key trait related to climatic conditions and biomass and survival as fitness correlates. Differences in traits among treatments were compared to trait shifts between sites, according to space-for-time approaches. In the drier site, phenology was accelerated, but within that site, experimental drought delayed phenology, probably as a plastic response to delayed ontogenetic development. Biomass was smaller in the dry treatments of that site, but it was also reduced in irrigated plots in both sites, indicating more intense competition. The shifts from limitation by drought to limitation by competition corresponded to patterns along the gradient. This also implies a larger negative impact of climate change in the drier site. Our results suggest that experimental selection in the field caused directional responses in most species, but these were not necessarily adaptive. Furthermore, competitive release imposed by climate change may revert direct negative effects of rainfall change in determining plant performance.

Clinal population divergence in an adaptive parental environmental effect that adjusts seed banking

“…Both species showed considerable phenotypic variation along the gradient in earlier common garden experiments. Biscutella didyma plants decreased in size and showed more branching, higher reproductive allocation and earlier phenology towards the desert in the same populations (Petrů et al ., ; Petrů & Tielbörger, ; Hänel & Tielbörger, ). Bromus fasciculatus showed earlier phenology and higher reproductive allocation in arid sites in the same study region (Aronson et al ., , ; Liancourt & Tielbörger, ), and broader leaves and hairier fascicles in our arid site (C. Lampei, pers.…”

Seedling survival of three endemic and threatenedMexican cacti under induced climate change

“…; Sih et al . ; Hänel & Tielbörger ), increasing the risk of local extinction for those plant species with low tolerance of elevated temperatures (Malcolm et al . ; Martorell et al .…”

Asynchronous vegetation phenology enhances winter body condition of a large mobile herbivore

“…Changing climatic patterns are altering the phenology of diverse taxa and the resources on which they depend around the globe (Parmesan 2007;Thackeray et al 2010;Haenel and Tielboerger 2015). For large-bodied herbivores, the phenology of vegetation is a critical determinant of diet quality (Van Soest 1982, Crawley 1983) that has been linked to diet choice, individual movement and performance (Hjeljord et al 1990, Albon andLangvatn 1992;Herfindal et al 2006;Hebblewhite et al 2008;Mysterud et al 2008;Hamel et al 2009;Martinez-Jauregui et al 2009;Bischof et al 2012;Nielsen et al 2012;Singh et al 2012;Giroux et al 2014, as well as population processes such as survival, reproduction and density-dependence Wang et al 2006;Pettorelli et al 2007;Wittemyer et al 2007.…”