Testing local adaption to microclimate in tundra plants. A common garden experoment with temperature treatments.

Abstract

One of the regions changing the fastest due to global warming is the tundra regions. This can potentially severely boost global warming due to the area containing a large majority of the worlds carbon stock, trapped under the layer permafrost existing in the ground. This change may be mediated through ecosystem changes on a community level with native plants disappearing due to the warming environment. To better understand how future tundra ecosystems may develop in regard to global warming, and whether genetic variation linked to landscape heterogeneity buffers these effects an experiment was performed. A common garden experiment was conducted using three tundra species grown in different temperature conditions to assess variation in germination, survival and early seedling growth. In Oreojuncus trifidus survival was mostly dependent on the seed mass while seedling height was significantly affected by the microclimate of origin and treatment. Amount of leaves (AOL) was significantly affect by treatment as was germination date. Site of origin had a minor effect but was mostly not relevant. The other species did not develop quickly enough to allow for measurement of Height and AOL, so were excluded from further trait analysis. The results suggest some subpopulations may be better suited to warmer conditions due to differences linkable to original microclimate. If this trait variation reflects heritable adaptation, this could help support the persistent of tundra species under climate change. Which, in turn, may contribute to slowing vegetation shifts that could otherwise affect the function of the ecosystem. Which in turn would preserve the current status quo of the area, preserving the carbon stocks in the area.