10 research outputs found

    The role of maternal age, growth and environment in shaping offspring performance in an aerial conifer seed bank

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    This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the Botanical Society of America via the DOI in this recordData Availability: The R code (doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.17158469) and primary data (doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.15097185) are available in Figshare.PREMISE Maternal effects have been demonstrated to affect offspring performance in many organisms and, in plants, seeds are important mediators of these effects. Some woody plant species maintain long-lasting canopy seed banks as an adaptation to wildfires. Importantly, these seeds stored in serotinous cones are produced by the mother plant under varying ontogenetic and physiological conditions. METHODS We sampled the canopy seed bank of a highly serotinous Pinus pinaster population to test if maternal age and growth, as well as the environmental conditions during each crop year, affected seed mass and ultimately germination and early survival. After determining retrospectively the year of each seed cohort, we followed germination and early survival in a semi-natural common garden. KEY RESULTS We found that seed mass was related to maternal age and growth at the time of seed production, i.e. slow growth-older mothers had smaller seeds and fast growth-young mothers had bigger seeds, which could be interpreted either as a proxy of senescence or as a maternal strategy. We also confirmed that seed mass had a positive effect on germination success, but beyond differences in seed mass, maternal age had a negative effect and diameter had a positive effect on germination timing and subsequent survival. CONCLUSIONS Thereby we highlight the importance of maternal conditions combined with seed mass in shaping seedling establishment. Our findings open new insights in the offspring performance deriving from long-term canopy seed banks, which may have high relevance for plant adaptation.Spanish Government, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU

    Intraspecific responses to climate reveal nonintuitive warming impacts on a widespread thermophilic conifer

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    Many ecologically important forest trees from dry areas have been insufficiently investigated for their ability to adapt to the challenges posed by climate change, which hampers the implementation of mitigation policies. We analyzed 14 common-garden experiments across the Mediterranean of the widespread thermophilic conifer Pinus halepensis, involving 157 populations categorized into five ecotypes. Ecotype-specific tree height responses to climate were applied to projected climate change (2071-2100 AD), to project potential growth patterns both locally and across the species' range. We found contrasting ecotypic sensitivities to annual precipitation but comparatively uniform responses to mean temperature, while evidence of local adaptation for tree height was limited to mesic ecotypes. We projected intriguing patterns of response range-wide, implying either height inhibition or stimulation of up to 75%, and deduced that the ecotype currently experiencing more favorable (wetter) conditions will show the largest inhibition. Extensive height reductions can be expected for coastal areas of France, Greece, Spain and northern Africa. Our findings underline that intraspecific variations in sensitivity to precipitation must be considered when projecting tree height responses of dry forests to future climate. The ecotype-specific projected performances call for management activities to ensure forest resilience in the Mediterranean through, e.g. tailored deployment strategies

    The role of maternal age, growth, and environment in shaping offspring performance in an aerial conifer seed bank

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    11 Pág.Maternal effects have been demonstrated to affect offspring performance in many organisms, and in plants, seeds are important mediators of these effects. Some woody plant species maintain long-lasting canopy seed banks as an adaptation to wildfires. Importantly, these seeds stored in serotinous cones are produced by the mother plant under varying ontogenetic and physiological conditions.This research was supported by the Spanish Government via the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU) grants AGL2015-68274-C03-1-R and RTI2018-094691-B-C32 and by a predoctoral research fellowship from the Spanish MICIU (BES-2016-077347).Peer reviewe

    Dataset from the Am J Bot 2016 103(9) paper: "Disentangling plasticity of serotiny, a key adaptive trait in a Mediterranean conifer"

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    <p>Raw data from the American Journal of Botany paper: "Disentangling plasticity of serotiny, a key adaptive trait in a Mediterranean conifer" Am J Bot. 2016 Sep;103(9):1582-91. doi: 10.3732/ajb.1600199</p

    Resin-tapped pine forests in Spain: Ecological diversity and economic valuation

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    Since ancient times, Mediterranean pine forests have been habitat for human activity, providing a wide range of goods such as timber, seeds, resin and derived products. Among them, tar and resin have played an historical role on the interaction between human activity and forests. In Spain, the resin played an important role in the economic and social development in rural areas during 20th century. But after 1980, resin production plummeted and the virtual disappearance of resin tapping caused the abandonment of traditional forest activities and the subsequently losses of ecosystem forest services (provision, regulation and cultural). This paper deals with some of the ecosystem services provided by resin tapped pine forests and shows how the abandonment of this traditional forestry activity would lead to a loss of social welfare beyond the economic activity. Among these ecosystem services, special attention is paid to the biodiversity of the pine forests. For that purpose, a stratified vegetation sampling was conducted in the leading resin-tapping Spanish region. Ecological analysis was therefore compared with the social preferences for several attributes associated to resin-tapped pine forests in Spain, including the biodiversity of flora.Financial support from the SUDOE Interreg IV B – UE/EU FEDER/ERDF program (project SUST-FOREST, ref. SOE2/P2/E261) is acknowledged. This paper is also an accidental contribution of M.S. and S.M. to the project StarTree (funded by the European Union through the European Commission's FP7 Cooperation Work Programme).Peer Reviewe
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