Differentiation and Non-Linear Responses in Temporal Phenotypic Plasticity of Seasonal Phenophases in a Common Garden of Crataegus monogyna Jacq.

Abstract

Phenology in perennial plants implies the temporal occurrence of biological events throughout the year. Heritable phenotypic plasticity in the timing of the phenophases can be of importance in the adaptation of woody species to a quickly changing environment. We observed the timing of bud burst, flower opening, leaf senescence and leaf fall in two successive years in a common garden of Crataegus monogyna Jacq. in Belgium, consisting of six local and five non-local provenances. Data were processed with cumulative logistic mixed models. Strong auto-correlation was present among the spring phenophases as well as among the autumnal phenophases, with spring phenophases being negatively correlated with fall phenophases. The strongest between-provenance differentiation was found for the timing of bud burst in spring, followed by flower opening and finally by leaf senescence and leaf fall. Warmer spring temperatures in March 2017 advanced the timing of bud burst, and to a lesser extent of flower opening, in all provenances compared to 2016. However, the advancement was non-linear among the provenances, with the lower latitude provenances being relatively less early and the higher elevation provenances being more late than the local provenances in this year. It can be hypothesized that non-local provenances display larger temporal phenotypic plastic responses in the timing of their spring phenophases compared to local provenances when temperatures in the common garden deviate more from their home-sites.

Biological Flora of the British Isles: Crataegus monogyna

“…Anthesis is at maximum between 10.2 and 18°C air temperature and is inhibited by rain (Percival, 1955). The obvious correlation of budburst and flower opening with spring temperature is supported by the data of Vander Mijnsbrugge and Janssens (2019). As for budburst, Vander Mijnsbrugge et al.…”

“…Leaf senescence and leaf fall were modelled by Vander Mijnsbrugge and Janssens (2019) for different provenances of hawthorn across Europe, ranging from around early October to late November.…”

Monitoring spring phenology of individual tree crowns using drone‐acquired NDVI data

“…It should be stressed that these conclusions are from satellite-based studies at coarser resolutions and further work is needed to explore these dynamics in drone-acquired data. For specific species, the relative timing of the phenological stages matched well with previous observations, such as the early green-up of alder and hawthorn, the slower progression and late peak greenness of alder and late but rapid green-up of ash and oak tree crowns (Kuster et al, 2014;Leslie et al, 2017;Mijnsbrugge & Janssens, 2019;Vilhar et al, 2013). On the basis of individual crown PAI measurements (Fig.…”

Which matters more for wood traits in Pinus halepensis Mill., provenance or climate?

“…The fact that some traits differ among provenances in the same species, growing in homogeneous environments (common garden), indicate population-level differences (sensu Isaac-Renton et al 2018). Indeed, amongpopulation variation in wood traits is also related to climate in their origin (e.g., Climent et al 2008;García-Esteban et al 2010;Vander Mijnsbrugge and Janssens 2019;Voltas et al 2008), which involve local adaptation to climate (Housset et al 2018). Under similar environmental conditions (common-garden experiments), the understanding of the plastic response of wood traits to favorable (wet) or unfavorable (dry) years can be expected to show indirect evidence for provenance origin differences in adaptation (Santos-del-Blanco et al 2013;David-Schwartz et al 2016).…”