Data from: "Ecophysiological variation in two provenances of Pinus flexilis seedlings across an elevation gradient from forest to alpine"

Dataset · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.15485/1804122· OSTI ID:1804122

Reinhardt, Keith ^[1]; Castanha, Cristina ^[2]; Germino, Matthew J. ^[3]; Kueppers, Lara M. ^[4]

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1. Idaho State University; ESS-DIVE
2. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
3. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6326-7579
4. University of California Berkeley

This archive contains data used to support conclusions drawn in “Ecophysiological variation in two provenances of Pinus flexilis seedlings across an elevation gradient from forest to alpine”, by Reinhardt et al., 2011. Data were collected over one summer season in plots within the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment (ATWE), before climate manipulations began. The experiment was located on Niwot Ridge, in the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. This data package includes five comma-separated-values (.csv) files, five Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) files, one .pdf file, and two types of geospatial files: keyhole markup language (.kml), and ESRI shapefiles (.shp). .csv files can be opened using any simple text-editing software (such as Notepad and TextEdit), R, and Microsoft Excel. .xlsx files can only be opened using Microsoft Excel. The .pdf file can be opened using Adobe Acrobat Reader or any other compatible file viewing software. The .kml file can be opened using Google Earth and Google Maps, and shapefiles can be opened using any software compatible with the file type, such as ESRI’s ArcGIS suite and QGIS.Data archived contain gas exchange and plant physiology measurements, non-structural carbohydrate data, among others. Geospatial files are also provided for additional locational context. The files and their contents in this data package are summarized under "Data Summary" in the included Data User's Guide. All files (excluding geospatial) are available in both Microsoft Excel and in .csv format, and are indicated in the Data Summary list as well.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Climate change is predicted to cause upward shifts in forest tree distributions, which will require seedling recruitment beyond current forest boundaries. However, predicting the likelihood of successful plant establishment beyond current species’ ranges under changing climate is complicated by the interaction of genetic and environmental controls on seedling establishment. To determine how genetics and climate may interact to affect seedling establishment, we transplanted recently germinated seedlings from high- and low-elevation provenances (HI and LO, respectively) of Pinus flexilis in common gardens arrayed along an elevation and canopy gradient from subalpine forest into the alpine zone and examined differences in physiology and morphology between provenances and among sites. Plant dry mass, projected leaf area and shoot:root ratios were 12–40% greater in LO compared with HI seedlings at each elevation. There were no significant changes in these variables among sites except for decreased dry mass of LO seedlings in the alpine site. Photosynthesis, carbon balance (photosynthesis/respiration) and conductance increased >2× with elevation for both provenances, and were 35–77% greater in LO seedlings compared with HI seedlings. There were no differences in dark-adapted chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) among sites or between provenances. Our results suggest that for P. flexilis seedlings, provenances selected for above-ground growth may outperform those selected for stress resistance in the absence of harsh climatic conditions, even well above the species’ range limits in the alpine zone. This indicates that forest genetics may be important to understanding and managing species’ range adjustments due to climate change.

• Research Organization: Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem; Subalpine and Alpine Species Range Shifts with Climate Change: Temperature and Soil Moisture Manipulations to Test Species and Population Responses (Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment)
• Sponsoring Organization: U.S. DOE > Office of Science > Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Institute for Climatic Change Research (NICCR); National Science Foundation EPS
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-07ER64457
• OSTI ID: 1804122
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Anet
Ci/Ca
Dark respiration
EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > VEGETATION
FvFm
Gas exchange
Internal carbon dioxide concentration/external carbon dioxide concentration
Net assimilation
Niwot Ridge
Non-structural carbohydrate
Percent soluble sugar
Percent starch
Percent total NSC
Photosynthetically active radiation
Plant biomass
Projected leaf area
Rd
Root mass
Shoot mass
Specific leaf area
Stomatal conductance
Transpiration
Water potential
Water use efficiency
carbon balance
limber pine
treeline
water relations