Abstract
BackgroundGeographical variation in morphological traits may reflect evolutionary patterns of morphological adaptability along environmental gradients. Comprehensive information on longitudinal patterns of morphological trait variation is very meaningful to explore morphological diversity and evolutionary trends in widespread bermudagrass.MethodsTo explore the spatial patterns of morphological traits, we investigated 10 morphological traits of bermudagrass and 10 soil nutrient indexes and collected local climate data for 13 different regions from 119°E to 105°E along the latitude 34°N.ResultsConsiderable variations in morphological traits were observed at different longitudes, and the variations in most of the evaluated traits within populations were lower than those among populations. All of the 13 different longitudinal sites were divided into three groups based on morphological traits by cluster analysis. The major sources of diversity at the different longitudes were leaf length of the erect shoot, leaf width of the erect shoot, and the internode lengths of the erect shoot and stolon as determined by principal component analysis. Pearson correlation analysis also indicated that longitude was significantly and negatively correlated with these traits as well. Mean average rainfall was significantly correlated with leaf length of the erect shoot and the internode lengths of the erect shoot and stolon, while mean average temperature was only significantly correlated with internode length of the erect shoots. Available sulfur was significantly correlated with internode length of the erect shoot, plant height, and reproductive branch height, while the exchangeable Ca was significantly correlated with internode lengths of the erect shoot and stolon. Soil pH was significantly correlated with the internode length of the stolon. Longitude is an important factor that affects morphological trait variation in wild bermudagrass, and the leaves of the erect shoot and the internode length enlarged significantly with the collection sites moving from east to west.ConclusionDifferent combinations and interactions of environmental factors (soil and climate) along a longitudinal gradient may have strong effects on one or more morphological traits of bermudagrass.
Highlights
Geographical variation in morphological traits may reflect evolutionary patterns of morphological adaptability along environmental gradients
The fourth mature leaf from the top of the erect shoot to the base was selected for measurement of leaf length of the erect shoot (LLES) and leaf width of the erect shoot (LWES), and the fourth section stems from the top of the erect shoot to the basal part were used for measurement of mean average temperatures (MAT) mean average rainfall; MAR mean average temperature
We observed that morphological trait sizes tended to increase with decreasing longitude in order for the plants to adapt to the changing environment, especially LLES, LWES, internode length of the erect shoot (ILES), and internode length of the stolon (ILS)
Summary
Geographical variation in morphological traits may reflect evolutionary patterns of morphological adaptability along environmental gradients. Morphological variation in plants is generally a feedback for the changing climatic conditions and reflects the adaptive evolution [7,8,9,10,11,12], while the soil factor has apparently shown to be a driving force to determine the morphological traits of plants [13,14,15,16]. Few studies have addressed whether plant species would show appreciable changes or a significant pattern of morphology along a longitudinal gradient. There is no information about the effects of climatic changes on morphological traits in widespread plant species, which makes it unclear how plants adapt to regular changes in climate, especially precipitation
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