Phenotypic plasticity in response to temperature fluctuations is genetically variable, and relates to climatic variability of origin, in Arabidopsis thaliana.

J F Scheepens,Ying Deng,Oliver Bossdorf

doi:10.1093/aobpla/ply043

Abstract

Under current climate change, increasing mean temperatures are not only causing hotter summers, but temperature variability is increasing as well. Phenotypic plasticity can help plants to overcome negative effects of temperature variability and allow them to rapidly adjust traits to adverse conditions. Moreover, genetic variation in such plasticity could provide potential for adaptive evolution in response to changing climate variability. Here, we conducted an experiment with 11 Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes to investigate intraspecific variation in plant responses to two aspects of variable temperature stress: timing and frequency. We found that the timing but not frequency of temperature stress affected the phenology, growth, reproduction and allocation strategy of plants, and that genotypes differed substantially in their responses. Moreover, trait plasticity was positively related to precipitation variability of origin, suggesting an adaptive role of plasticity. Our results indicate that the developmental stage of a plant during heat stress is a key determinant of its response, and that plasticity to temperature variability is an evolving and possibly adaptive trait in natural populations of A. thaliana. More generally, our study demonstrates the usefulness of studying plant responses to climatic variability per se, given that climatic variability is predicted to increase in the future.

Highlights

Global climate change is significantly affecting plants and animals across the globe (Parmesan and Yohe 2003; Root et al 2003; Menzel et al 2006; Reyer et al 2013)
Our results indicate that the developmental stage of a plant during heat stress is a key determinant of its response, and that plasticity to temperature variability is an evolving and possibly adaptive trait in natural populations of A. thaliana
Our study demonstrates the usefulness of studying plant responses to climatic variability per se, given that climatic variability is predicted to increase in the future

Summary

Introduction

Global climate change is significantly affecting plants and animals across the globe (Parmesan and Yohe 2003; Root et al 2003; Menzel et al 2006; Reyer et al 2013). Under current climate change, increasing mean temperatures are causing hotter summers, but temperature variability is increasing as well (Schär et al 2004; Fischer and Schär 2009). This increase in variability can take place at different temporal scales, e.g. diurnally, intra-seasonally or inter-annually. As plant populations are often adapted to their climates of origin (Manel et al 2010; Fournier-Level et al 2011; Hancock et al 2011; Ågren and Schemske 2012; Toräng et al 2014), and this may include adaptation to the means of temperature and precipitation (Manel et al 2010) and to their temporal variability (Pratt and Mooney 2013; Manzano-Piedras et al 2014), climate change may disrupt such adaptations

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