Deilmann Till J, Ulrich Josephine, Römermann Christine
Institute of Ecology and Evolution Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena Jena Germany.
Senckenberg Institute for Plant Form and Function Jena Jena Germany.
Ecol Evol. 2024 Jun 4;14(6):e11505. doi: 10.1002/ece3.11505. eCollection 2024 Jun.
An increasing number of studies in botanical gardens are investigating species' responses to climate change. However, the influence of local environmental or habitat conditions such as soil nutrient status or microclimate on phenology and the link between morpho-physiological functional traits and phenological stages are poorly understood, making it difficult to extrapolate patterns from botanical gardens to natural environments. Therefore, we selected herbaceous species growing in two semi-natural habitats, namely, semi-dry grasslands (SDGs) and mesophilic grasslands (MGs) and the botanical garden of Jena (Germany) to investigate the influence of habitat conditions on interspecific and intraspecific patterns in phenology, functional traits and their associations. For 16 species, we monitored leaf and flowering phenology weekly for 133 populations from the three habitats, measured morpho-physiological traits (i.e., whole plant, leaf and reproductive traits), as well as habitat conditions and compared the measurements across habitats. Multivariate analyses revealed that morpho-physiological traits conspicuously showed stronger differences between habitats compared to phenological traits. Populations on MG showed temporal niche segregation, whereas populations on SDG showed flowering synchrony. Boosted Regression Trees showed that morpho-physiological traits, especially reproductive traits, strongly influenced phenological traits and that the trait-phenology relationships were highly habitat-specific. We conclude that species phenology is broadly similar between botanical gardens and local habitats. However, phenological responses to the environment may be constrained by a certain suite of correlated traits due to ecological plant strategies that vary across habitats. The effect of habitat conditions on morpho-physiological functional traits and phenology-trait relationships is important and should not be neglected at local scales, implying consequences at larger scales.
越来越多的植物园研究正在调查物种对气候变化的反应。然而，当地环境或栖息地条件，如土壤养分状况或小气候对物候的影响以及形态生理功能性状与物候阶段之间的联系却鲜为人知，这使得很难将植物园中的模式外推到自然环境中。因此，我们选择了生长在两种半自然栖息地的草本物种，即半干旱草原（SDGs）和中生草原（MGs）以及德国耶拿植物园，以研究栖息地条件对物候、功能性状及其种间和种内关联模式的影响。对于16个物种，我们对来自这三个栖息地的133个种群每周监测叶片和开花物候，测量形态生理性状（即整株植物、叶片和繁殖性状）以及栖息地条件，并比较不同栖息地的测量结果。多变量分析表明，与物候性状相比，形态生理性状在不同栖息地之间的差异更为显著。MG上的种群表现出时间生态位分离，而SDG上的种群表现出开花同步。增强回归树分析表明，形态生理性状，尤其是繁殖性状，对物候性状有强烈影响，且性状与物候的关系具有高度的栖息地特异性。我们得出结论，植物园和当地栖息地的物种物候大致相似。然而，由于不同栖息地植物生态策略的差异，物候对环境的反应可能受到一系列相关性状的限制。栖息地条件对形态生理功能性状以及物候-性状关系的影响很重要，在局部尺度上不应被忽视，这意味着在更大尺度上也会有相应后果。
