Phylogenetic conservatism and climate factors shape flowering phenology in alpine meadows

Li, Lanping; Li, Zhikuo; Cadotte, Marc W.; Jia, Peng; Chen, Guanguang; Jin, Lanna S.; Du, Guozhen

doi:10.1007/s00442-016-3666-6

Cited by 22 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Consistent with the earlier study on the alpine plant community of Tibetan plateau, we found that budding, flowering, and initial fruiting were significantly aggregated across phylogenetically closely related Rhododendron species (Li et al. ). The opening of buds at the right time might consequently help plants to flower and fruit at favorable conditions when the pollinator availability is high, and also meet the required climatic conditions.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…, Li et al. ), and snowfall (Forrest and Miller‐Rushing ) are the crucial factors influencing the timing of phenological events. Biotic factors such as the presence of pollinators and seed dispersers also serve as an important driver for staggering (Pleasants ) and aggregation of phenology events (Rathcke ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, the strong phylogenetic conservatism in flowering phenology at high altitude (Li et al. ) might be associated with the facilitative process that is known to increase with environmental stress (Callaway et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of phylogeny and abiotic factors varies across early and late reproductive phenology of HimalayanRhododendrons

et al. 2019

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Understanding the influence of evolutionary history on species-specific phenological events of high-altitude plants and their sensitivity to the abiotic factors has gained importance mainly in the context of climate change. However, the majority of phenology studies across altitudinal gradient are carried out on flowering, whereas other reproductive phenology events are seldom considered. We tested the role of abiotic factors and evolutionary history on the reproductive phenology traits of high-altitude Rhododendron community which comprised of 10 locally aggregated species in Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary, Sikkim Himalaya. The study was carried out from 2013 to 2015 across an altitude gradient of 3400-4230 m a.s.l. We generated dated phylogenetic hypotheses to test for phylogenetic signal in reproductive phenology events, and its durations across 10 Rhododendron species and also among groups of species distributed at every 100 m altitude. Comparative phylogenetic methods were used to explore the relationship between phenology traits and abiotic variables such as daylength and temperature. The early phenology events such as budding, flowering, and initial fruiting, which occurred during the favorable month of the year, exhibited strong phylogenetic signal and were mainly associated with daylength and temperature. In contrast, the later events such as immature fruiting, mature fruiting, and fruit dehiscence, which occurred during the later months of the year, showed a weak phylogenetic signal and were mostly associated with daylength. With the increase in altitude, we found a decreasing trend of phylogenetic signal for the early phenology events and later events did not show a significant trend. Our results suggest that only early events are constrained by evolutionary history; thus, the closely related species share the similar timing of the early phenology events. Also, the role of shared evolutionary history in phenological trait sensitivity to the abiotic factors reduces from early to the late phenology events. This approach can be extended to other representative plant families of the Himalayan region to better understand the response of reproductive traits to abiotic factors in deep evolutionary time.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influence of phylogeny and abiotic factors varies across early and late reproductive phenology of HimalayanRhododendrons

et al. 2019

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“…, Li et al. ). Thus species tend to show large inter‐annual and spatial variation in flowering phenology.…”

Section: A Brief Introduction To Evolutionary Models In Community Phymentioning

confidence: 99%

Why phylogenies do not always predict ecological differences

Cadotte

Davies

Peres‐Neto

2017

Ecological Monographs

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167

210

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The merger of phylogenies with ecology has given rise to the field of “community phylogenetics,” predicated on the assumption that ecological differences among species can be estimated from phylogenetic relationships (the phylogenetic distance/ecological difference, or PDED, hypothesis). A number of studies have failed to find strong support for this assumption, thus challenging the utility of phylogenetic approaches. This gap might highlight the fact that the PDED relationship is not useful for community assembly, but it is difficult to know because the lack of a relationship might also be due to a number of biological or methodological reasons, including inappropriate phylogenies, skewed distributions of phylogenetic distances, the lack of consideration of models of trait evolution, or the absence of sufficient niche space in experimental and observational venues. Each of these limitations, separately or combined, may confound recent experimental or observational results that examine relationships between phylogenetic distance and ecological differences. Notably, common evolutionary models can support alternative conclusions about the relationship between evolutionary distances and ecological differences than typically assumed and can change interpretations of community‐based phylogenetic analyses. Here we review a number of issues that may lead to confounded effects in community phylogenetic analyses. In light of these potential pitfalls, we provide a number of guidelines for researchers to follow and stress that they need to address methodological shortcomings before concluding that ecological differences are unrelated to phylogenetic distances.

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“…Later in spring, sub-zero temperatures occur only occasionally, and summer flowering lowland species usually do not experience frost at all. As indicated above, patterns of flowering phenology in plant communities are the result of a long-term adaptation to environmental conditions [20]. Plant species that are not strictly controlled by day-length show a certain degree of phenological plasticity whereby onset and duration of flowering are primarily driven by temperature [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold Tolerance of the Male Gametophyte during Germination and Tube Growth Depends on the Flowering Time

Wagner

Gastl

Kögler

et al. 2016

Plants

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In temperate climates, most plants flower during the warmer season of the year to avoid negative effects of low temperatures on reproduction. Nevertheless, few species bloom in midwinter and early spring despite severe and frequent frosts at that time. This raises the question of adaption of sensible progamic processes such as pollen germination and pollen tube growth to low temperatures. The performance of the male gametophyte of 12 herbaceous lowland species flowering in different seasons was examined in vitro at different test temperatures using an easy to handle testing system. Additionally, the capacity to recover after the exposure to cold was checked. We found a clear relationship between cold tolerance of the activated male gametophyte and the flowering time. In most summer-flowering species, pollen germination stopped between 1 and 5 °C, whereas pollen of winter and early spring flowering species germinated even at temperatures below zero. Furthermore, germinating pollen was exceptionally frost tolerant in cold adapted plants, but suffered irreversible damage already from mild sub-zero temperatures in summer-flowering species. In conclusion, male gametophytes show a high adaptation potential to cold which might exceed that of female tissues. For an overall assessment of temperature limits for sexual reproduction it is therefore important to consider female functions as well.

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Phylogenetic conservatism and climate factors shape flowering phenology in alpine meadows

Cited by 22 publications

References 47 publications

Influence of phylogeny and abiotic factors varies across early and late reproductive phenology of HimalayanRhododendrons

Influence of phylogeny and abiotic factors varies across early and late reproductive phenology of HimalayanRhododendrons

Why phylogenies do not always predict ecological differences

Cold Tolerance of the Male Gametophyte during Germination and Tube Growth Depends on the Flowering Time

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