Global Change Biology just published our new article here. We tested whether a widely-distributed species of Eucalypt consisted of several genetically divergent populations, or if the species consisted of trees with a broad climate suitability. Forest red gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis) is distributed along the eastern coast of Australia, spanning 2,200 km and a 13 degree Celcius difference in mean annual temperature. Despite this gradient, we found that trees of this species had convergent temperature-dependencies of photosynthesis, respiration, and growth. That is, this species consists of trees with broad climatic suitability and a common thermal niche. This was unexpected, as many Northern Hemispheric trees that are widely distributed consist of populations with divergent climate responses. We speculate that long-distance pollen dispersal by migrating pollinators (bats and birds) enable long-distance gene flow in this species, preventing strong adaptation to local climate. A common thermal niche means that the effects of climate warming will vary across the range of this species. Warming is likely to increase growth for trees of this species in cool home climates, but decrease the growth of trees in warm climates.
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We published a new article in Australasian Plant Conservation summarizing our work on forest red gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis). Forest red gum is a widely distributed species, with a native range spanning 2,500 kilometers across eastern Australia.
Revegetation efforts commonly use local seed sources of tree species, as local sources are assumed to be well-adapted to the environment. With climate warming, local sources may not be well adapted to future conditions, and assisted migration may be used to plant trees that are "climate-ready". Using a series of controlled greenhouse warming experiments, we show that seed sources of forest red gum were not strongly locally adapted. We found no evidence of the "local is best" paradigm for this species. This suggests that planting local seed sources or seed sources from warmer climates would have equivalent results. Here is a pdf. |
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Tree ecophysiology at SUNY-ESF Archives
October 2022
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