IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v9y2018i1d10.1038_s41467-018-04039-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cold adaptation recorded in tree rings highlights risks associated with climate change and assisted migration

Author

Listed:
  • David Montwé

    (University of Alberta)

  • Miriam Isaac-Renton

    (University of Alberta)

  • Andreas Hamann

    (University of Alberta)

  • Heinrich Spiecker

    (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg)

Abstract

With lengthening growing seasons but increased temperature variability under climate change, frost damage to plants may remain a risk and could be exacerbated by poleward planting of warm-adapted seed sources. Here, we study cold adaptation of tree populations in a wide-ranging coniferous species in western North America to inform limits to seed transfer. Using tree-ring signatures of cold damage from common garden trials designed to study genetic population differentiation, we find opposing geographic clines for spring frost and fall frost damage. Provenances from northern regions are sensitive to spring frosts, while the more productive provenances from central and southern regions are more susceptible to fall frosts. Transferring the southern, warm-adapted genotypes northward causes a significant loss of growth and a permanent rank change after a spring frost event. We conclude that cold adaptation should remain an important consideration when implementing seed transfers designed to mitigate harmful effects of climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • David Montwé & Miriam Isaac-Renton & Andreas Hamann & Heinrich Spiecker, 2018. "Cold adaptation recorded in tree rings highlights risks associated with climate change and assisted migration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-04039-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04039-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04039-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-018-04039-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Debojyoti Chakraborty & Albert Ciceu & Dalibor Ballian & Marta Benito Garzón & Andreas Bolte & Gregor Bozic & Rafael Buchacher & Jaroslav Čepl & Eva Cremer & Alexis Ducousso & Julian Gaviria & Jan Pet, 2024. "Assisted tree migration can preserve the European forest carbon sink under climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 14(8), pages 845-852, August.
    2. Steffi Heinrichs & Veronika Öder & Adrian Indreica & Erwin Bergmeier & Christoph Leuschner & Helge Walentowski, 2021. "The Influence of Tilia tomentosa Moench on Plant Species Diversity and Composition in Mesophilic Forests of Western Romania–A Potential Tree Species for Warming Forests in Central Europe?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-23, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-04039-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.