Pathogens, herbivores, and phenotypic plasticity of boreal Vaccinium vitis‐idaea experiencing climate change

Abstract

Abstract. Climate warming is occurring at a rapid rate in the boreal forest; mean winter temperature has increased about 48C in Alaska over the last 40 years and about the same increase is predicted over the next 40 years. Warming temperatures tend to increase the number and kinds of herbivores and pathogens. How will boreal plants to respond to these abiotic and biotic changes? To address these questions we used common gardens and reciprocal transplants of Vaccinium vitis-idaea at sites with contrasting abiotic conditions near Fairbanks, Alaska. Plant morphology, chemistry, resistance to pathogens and herbivores, and survival were all strongly influenced by the destination environment (planting site and block within site), and less by the site of origin for the seed. Overall, seedlings survived significantly better at the summer cold site, which was buffered from drought as a result of its northern aspect, presence of sphagnum moss and permafrost (86.4% survival versus 48.5%). However, this cool damp site had more stem-killing consumers, the pathogens Phomopsis columnaris and Exobasidium vaccinii and mammalian browse, all of which became more common over the three years of the study as the plants became larger. Taken together, these results suggest that the seedling stage is likely to be vulnerable to droughts, except at sites with thick moss cover, which results in greater duration of summer moisture. Thus, as the climate warms, seedling growth will be restricted to those sites where the adult stages will later suffer from more stem-killing pathogen attack and mammalian browse.

Preforming floral primordia converge on a narrow range of stages at dormancy despite multiple effects of temperature on development

“…and syrphid flies (Syrphidae)) are likely to transfer pollen between sites within regions (Davis, 2002; Spellman et al ., 2015). Moreover, Roy & Mulder (2014) found no evidence of genetic differences among a range of sites similar to those used in the present study. Thus, it is likely that any effect of habitat on primordium development is driven by the timing of soil thaw.…”

“…All three regions contained sites with two main habitat types: black spruce bog and mixed deciduous/coniferous (hereafter ‘mixed deciduous’) forest (Supporting Information Table S1). Black spruce bog is generally found at low elevations, and as a result of temperature inversions (colder temperatures at lower elevation) these sites are cold in winter but range from cold to warm in summer (Roy & Mulder, 2014). Black spruce bogs are underlain by permafrost and the top layer of soil was still frozen at the start of our study seasons (Fig.…”

Soil Metatranscriptomes Under Long-Term Experimental Warming and Drying: Fungi Allocate Resources to Cell Metabolic Maintenance Rather Than Decay

“…Specifically, the orders Arthoniales, Lichinales, and Pertusariales house lichenized fungi (DePriest, 2004; Schmitt et al, 2005; Lücking et al, 2017). The Diaporthales, Magnaporthales, and Malasseziales include mostly opportunistic pathogenic species (Cafarchia et al, 2007; Roy and Mulder, 2014; Zhang et al, 2016; Senanayake et al, 2017). The Eurotiales house high-sporulating, stress-tolerant mold species (Dijksterhuis et al, 2018).…”

Comparison of the chemistry and diversity of endophytes isolated from wild-harvested and greenhouse-cultivated yerba mansa (Anemopsis californica)

“…In stark contrast, the roots that had grown for one year in the greenhouse yielded only two fungal species, Phomopsis columnaris and Ilyonectria robusta . Both of these fungal species have been known to infect and kill plants by either causing root rot ( I. robusta ) or stem death ( P. columnaris ) (Cabral et al, 2012; Farr et al, 2002; Roy and Mulder, 2014). Interestingly, P. columnaris was the only fungus found to be present in both the field samples and the greenhouse samples.…”