Journal of Plant Ecology ›› 2017, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (1): 222-231.DOI: 10.1093/jpe/rtw086

所属专题: 生物多样性与生态系统功能

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Heritability of early growth traits and their plasticity in 14 woody species of Chinese subtropical forest

Xueqin Zeng1,2,3, Walter Durka1, Erik Welk4 and Markus Fischer2,*   

  1. 1 UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Community Ecology (BZF), Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, D-06120 Halle, Germany; 2 Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013 Bern, Switzerland; 3 Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Lam Kam Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong; 4 Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 01, D-06108 Halle, Germany
  • 收稿日期:2016-07-28 接受日期:2016-08-20 出版日期:2017-02-04 发布日期:2017-01-30

Heritability of early growth traits and their plasticity in 14 woody species of Chinese subtropical forest

Xueqin Zeng1,2,3, Walter Durka1, Erik Welk4 and Markus Fischer2,*   

  1. 1 UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Department of Community Ecology (BZF), Theodor-Lieser-Str. 4, D-06120 Halle, Germany; 2 Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013 Bern, Switzerland; 3 Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Lam Kam Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong; 4 Institute of Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Am Kirchtor 01, D-06108 Halle, Germany
  • Received:2016-07-28 Accepted:2016-08-20 Online:2017-02-04 Published:2017-01-30
  • Contact: Fischer, Markus

摘要: Aims Genetic variation in plant traits represents the raw material for future adaptive evolution. Its extent can be estimated as heritability based on the performance of experimental plants of known relatedness, such as maternal half-sib seed families. While there is considerable heritability information for herbaceous plants and commercially important trees, little is known for woody species of natural subtropical forest. Moreover, it is open whether heritability is higher for species with r- or K-strategies, for more common species with larger distribution ranges than for rarer ones, or for populations closer to the centres of distributional ranges.
Methods For 14 woody species in Chinese subtropical forest, we collected 13–38 maternal seed families, assessed seed size, grew replicates of each seed family in one more and one less benign nursery environment and measured stem diameter and plant height after 7 months.
Important findings For the different species, plants grew 1.8–8.1 times taller in the more benign environment. For all 14 species, variation between seed families (and thus heritability) was significant (with very few exceptions at the P < 0.001 level) for seed size and for stem diameter and plant height in both nurseries. Moreover, significant seed family by nursery interactions for stem diameter and plant height for all species (P < 0.001) indicated significant heritability for plasticity in these traits. Multiple regression analysis suggests that heritabilities were higher for species with higher age at reproduction and higher wood density (traits indicating a K strategy) but also for species with higher specific leaf area (a trait rather indicating an r strategy). Furthermore, heritabilities were higher for species with larger range sizes, while there was no significant relationship between heritabilities and the distance of the study area to the range margins of our study species. In conclusion, the detected large heritability estimates suggest considerable potential for the evolution of plant performance and its plasticity for trees of subtropical forest. Moreover, our study shows that the simple method of comparing plants of different maternal seed families is valuable to address evolutionary ecological questions for so far understudied species.

Abstract: Aims Genetic variation in plant traits represents the raw material for future adaptive evolution. Its extent can be estimated as heritability based on the performance of experimental plants of known relatedness, such as maternal half-sib seed families. While there is considerable heritability information for herbaceous plants and commercially important trees, little is known for woody species of natural subtropical forest. Moreover, it is open whether heritability is higher for species with r- or K-strategies, for more common species with larger distribution ranges than for rarer ones, or for populations closer to the centres of distributional ranges.
Methods For 14 woody species in Chinese subtropical forest, we collected 13–38 maternal seed families, assessed seed size, grew replicates of each seed family in one more and one less benign nursery environment and measured stem diameter and plant height after 7 months.
Important findings For the different species, plants grew 1.8–8.1 times taller in the more benign environment. For all 14 species, variation between seed families (and thus heritability) was significant (with very few exceptions at the P < 0.001 level) for seed size and for stem diameter and plant height in both nurseries. Moreover, significant seed family by nursery interactions for stem diameter and plant height for all species (P < 0.001) indicated significant heritability for plasticity in these traits. Multiple regression analysis suggests that heritabilities were higher for species with higher age at reproduction and higher wood density (traits indicating a K strategy) but also for species with higher specific leaf area (a trait rather indicating an r strategy). Furthermore, heritabilities were higher for species with larger range sizes, while there was no significant relationship between heritabilities and the distance of the study area to the range margins of our study species. In conclusion, the detected large heritability estimates suggest considerable potential for the evolution of plant performance and its plasticity for trees of subtropical forest. Moreover, our study shows that the simple method of comparing plants of different maternal seed families is valuable to address evolutionary ecological questions for so far understudied species.

Key words: heritability, plant performance, phenotypic plasticity, subtropical forest