Many temperate and boreal tree species have a chilling requirement, that is, they need to experience cold temperatures during fall and winter to burst bud normally in the spring. Results from trials with 11 Pacific Northwest tree species are consistent with the concept that plants can accumulate both chilling and forcing units simultaneously during the dormant season and they exhibit a tradeoff between amount of forcing and chilling. That is, the parallel model of chilling and forcing was effective in predicting budburst and well chilled plants require less forcing for bud burst than plants which have received less chilling. Genotypes differed in the shape of the possibility line which describes the quantitative tradeoff between chilling and forcing units. Plants which have an obligate chilling requirement (Douglas-fir, western hemlock, western larch, pines, and true firs) and received no or very low levels of chilling did not burst bud normally even with long photoperiods. Pacific madrone and western redcedar benefited from chilling in terms of requiring less forcing to promote bud burst but many plants burst bud normally without chilling. Equations predicting budburst were developed for each species in our trials for a portion of western North America under current climatic conditions and for 2080. Mean winter temperature was predicted to increase 3.2-5.5°C and this change resulted in earlier predicted budburst for Douglas-fir throughout much of our study area (up to 74 days earlier) but later budburst in some southern portions of its current range (up to 48 days later) as insufficient chilling is predicted to occur. Other species all had earlier predicted dates of budburst by 2080 than currently. Recent warming trends have resulted in earlier budburst for some woody plant species; however, the substantial winter warming predicted by some climate models will reduce future chilling in some locations such that budburst will not consistently occur earlier.

Makaleyi görüntüle

Climate change is expected to change the distribution of species. For long-lived, sessile species such as trees, tracking the warming climate depends on seedling colonization of newly favorable areas. We compare the distribution of seedlings and mature trees for all but the rarest tree species in California, Oregon and Washington, United States of America, a large, environmentally diverse region. Across 46 species, the mean annual temperature of the range of seedlings was 0.120°C colder than that of the range of trees (95% confidence interval from 0.096 to 0.144°C). The extremes of the seedling distributions also shifted towards colder temperature than those of mature trees, but the change was less pronounced. Although the mean elevation and mean latitude of the range of seedlings was higher than and north of those of the range of mature trees, elevational and latitudinal shifts run in opposite directions for the majority of the species, reflecting the lack of a direct biological relationship between species' distributions and those variables. The broad scale, environmental diversity and variety of disturbance regimes and land uses of the study area, the large number and exhaustive sampling of tree species, and the direct causal relationship between the temperature response and a warming climate, provide strong evidence to attribute the observed shifts to climate change.

Makaleyi görüntüle

Glacier forefronts provide a unique system for studying primary succession of plants and fungi. We constructed a chronosequence of ectomycorrhizal fungus occurrence on the forefront of Lyman Glacier in the North Cascades mountain range in Washington, USA. The plant communities established on non-vegetated substrate as patchily distributed plant individuals and developed towards complex vegetation with a variety of ectomycorrhizal hosts, including Salix commutata, S. phylicifolia, Abies lasiocarpa, Larix lyallii, Pinus contorta, Tsuga mertensiana and additional infrequent taxa. A most probable number assay of non-vegetated substrates over the chronosequence indicated that ectomycorrhizal propagules were few or absent in the non-vegetated areas adjacent to the glacier terminus but increased with time since deglaciation. Ectomycorrhizal fungus sporocarps occurred as soon as the first host plants of substantial size were present. However, none were observed with the most recently established hosts--small A. lasiocarpa seedlings. Only four species (Cortinarius decipiens, C. tenebricus, Inocybe lacera, and Laccaria cf. montana) occurred on substrate deglaciated for less than 40 years. Three of these species (C. tenebricus, I. lacera, and L. cf. montana) occurred along the chronosequence to the terminal moraine on substrate deglaciated for 70-100 years. An additional five species (one unidentified species each of Cortinarius and Lactarius, Cortinarius mutabilis, Lactarius uvidus var. montanus, and Suillus cavipes) occurred only on the oldest substrate. Our results support the current "early- and late-stage" model of ectomycorrhizal fungus succession in that additional species enter the community over time. However, we hypothesize that diversification of the mycorrhizal fungus community in this primary successional habitat resulted from an increasing diversity of host plants along with changing habitat attributes.

Makaleyi görüntüle

Microsatellite loci or simple sequence repeat loci (SSRs) were isolated in alpine larch (Larix lyallii Parl.) and western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.). In total, 14 SSR loci were characterized; two [(TCT)4, A7] came from published Larix DNA sequence data, one (CA)17 was obtained from a partial non-enriched alpine larch total genomic DNA library, and the remaining 11 loci were obtained from larch genomic DNAs enriched for (CA)n repeats. The SSR regions in these clones could be divided into three categories: perfect repeat sequences without interruption, imperfect repeat sequences with interruption(s), and compound repeat sequences with adjacent tandem simple dinucleotides. Eight of the 14 loci analyzed were found to be polymorphic and useful markers after silver-staining polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In addition, several SSR primers developed for alpine larch were able to successfully amplify polymorphic loci in its related species, western larch, and among other closely related taxa within the Larix genus. The inheritance of microsatellite loci was verified by analysis of haploid megagametophyte and diploid embryo tissues of progeny obtained from controlled crosses between western larch and alpine larch. All microsatellite loci analyzed had alleles that segregated according to expected Mendelian frequencies. Two species-specific markers (UAKLly10a and UAKLla1) allow easy and rapid identification of specific genetic entry of alpine larch and western larch at any stage in the sporophyte phase of the life cycle. Therefore, these markers are efficient in identifying the parental species and to validate controlled crosses between these two closely related species. These results are important in tree improvement programs of alpine larch and western larch aimed at producing genetically improved hybrid stock for reforestation in Western Canada and U.S.A.

Makaleyi görüntüle

The small subunit (SSU) and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA genes from 27 specimens of the fungal genera Gremmeniella and Ascocalyx were amplified by PCR. Length polymorphisms were observed in the SSU and allowed the differentiation of four groups among the isolates tested: (i) Ascocalyx abietis; (ii) Gremmeniella isolates from Picea spp.; (iii) Gremmeniella isolates from Abies balsamea; and (iv) Gremmeniella isolates from Abies sacchalinensis, Larix spp., and Pinus spp. The amplified ITS was the same length for all Gremmeniella specimens and was 60 bp longer in A. abietis. Phylogenetic analysis of length polymorphisms and of 24 restriction sites in the SSU and ITS showed that Gremmeniella isolates were more related to each other than to the Ascocalyx isolate. Furthermore, seven groups were evident within the genus Gremmeniella. Our results confirm that Gremmeniella and Ascocalyx should be kept as different taxa and suggest that the taxonomy of the former could be revised to consider isolates from Abies balsamea and from Picea spp. to be two different varieties while incorporating Gremmeniella laricina into G. abietina, as a new variety.

Makaleyi görüntüle