scholarly journals Signatures of natural selection in a foundation tree along Mediterranean climatic gradients

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Filipe ◽  
Paul Rymer ◽  
Margaret Byrne ◽  
Giles Hardy ◽  
Richard Mazanec ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
Enrichment Analysis ◽  
Snp Markers ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Eucalyptus Marginata ◽  
Association Analyses ◽  
Climate Gradients ◽  
Forest Dieback ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation Regimes

Temperature and precipitation regimes are rapidly changing, resulting in forest dieback and local extinction events, particularly in Mediterranean-type climates. Strategic forest management approaches that enhance forests’ resilience to future climates are urgently required, however adaptation to climates in heterogeneous landscapes with multiple selection pressures may be complex. For widespread trees in Mediterranean-type climates we hypothesized that patterns of local adaptation are associated with climate; precipitation is a stronger factor of adaptation than temperature; functionally related genes show similar signatures of adaptation; and adaptive variants are independently sorting across the landscape. To test our hypotheses, we sampled 28 populations across the geographic and climatic distribution of Eucalyptus marginata (jarrah), in south-west Western Australia, and obtained 13,534 independent single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) markers across the genome. While overall levels of population differentiation were low (FST=0.04), environmental association analyses found a total of 2,336 unique SNPs potentially associated with five climate variables of temperature and precipitation. Allelic turnover was identified for SNPs associated with temperate seasonality and mean precipitation of the warmest quarter (39.2% and 36.9% deviance explained, respectively), suggesting that both temperature and precipitation are important factors in adaptation. SNPs within similarly function genes, according to gene ontology enrichment analysis, had analogous allelic turnover along climate gradients, while SNPs among temperature and precipitation variables had orthogonal patterns of adaptation. These contrasting patterns of adaptation provide evidence that there may be standing genomic variation adapted to changing climates, providing the substrate needed to promote adaptive management strategies to bolster forest resilience in the future.

scholarly journals Closely-related tree species with overlapping ranges exhibit divergent adaptation to climate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W Whale ◽  
Collin W Ahrens ◽  
David T Tissue ◽  
Paul D Rymer
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Scenario ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Eucalyptus Species ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Local Environments ◽  
Precipitation Regimes ◽  
Restoration Strategies

With global climate change shifting and altering temperature and precipitation regimes, the ability of natural forest stands to persist in their local environments are being challenged. For many taxa, particularly among long lived tree species, the potential to respond is underpinned by genetic and trait diversity and may be limited. We sampled 326 and 366 individuals of two widely distributed and closely-related red gum Eucalyptus species (E. blakelyi and E. tereticornis) from across their entire Australian range. We identified putatively adaptive variants associated within genes of key biological processes for both species. We mapped the change of allele frequencies of two hierarchical gene ontology groups shared by both species across geography and climate and predict genomically vulnerable regions under a projected 2070 climate scenario. Regions of potential vulnerability to decline under future climate differed between species and may be applied to guide conservation and restoration strategies. Our study indicated that some populations may contain the adaptive genomic variation necessary for these species to persist through climate change, while others may benefit from the adaptive variation of those populations to enhance resilience.

scholarly journals Lokale Anpassung bei Waldbaumarten: genetische Prozesse und Bedeutung im Klimawandel

2016 ◽  
Vol 167 (6) ◽  
pp. 333-340
Author(s):  
Christian Rellstab ◽  
Andrea R. Pluess ◽  
Felix Gugerli
Keyword(s):  
Local Adaptation ◽  
Environmental Gradients ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Environmental Parameters ◽  
Forest Trees ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Genetic Changes ◽  
Association Analyses ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Technological Advances

Local adaptation in forest trees: genetic processes and relevance under climate change Forest trees will have to adapt to future climatic changes, a process that will comprise genetic changes as a key component. Owing to technological advances it is now possible to identify the signature of natural selection and local adaptation in the genome. Environmental association analyses aim at associating adaptive genetic patterns with environmental parameters describing the local habitat. On the basis of such studies – including own investigations using oak and beech in Switzerland –, we show that forest trees are genetically differentiated along various environmental gradients, especially temperature and precipitation. Numerous genes could be found that presumably play a role in the adaptation to such environmental factors. Based on these findings, one could identify trees or stands that are adapted to future local conditions, and respective seed material could be considered in silviculture. Because such approaches are still in their infancy and because genome-environment interactions are complex, management strategies should focus on the preservation of (adaptive) genetic diversity, natural regeneration, and connectivity among stands. This would set the basis for the local adaptation of forest stands to altered environmental conditions by natural processes.

Revising key parameters for long-term carbon cycle models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloé M. Marcilly ◽  
Trond H. Torsvik ◽  
Mathew Domeier ◽  
Dana L. Royer
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Age Distribution ◽  
Silicate Weathering ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Climate Fluctuations ◽  
Climate Gradients ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation

<p>CO<sub>2</sub> is the most important greenhouse gas in the Earth’s atmosphere and has fluctuated considerably over geological time. However, proxies for past CO<sub>2 </sub>concentrations have large uncertainties and are mostly limited to Devonian and younger times. Consequently, CO<sub>2</sub> modelling plays a key role in reconstructing past climate fluctuations. Facing the limitations with the current CO<sub>2</sub> models, we aim to refine two important forcings for CO<sub>2</sub> levels over the Phanerozoic, namely carbon degassing and silicate weathering.</p><p>Silicate weathering and carbonate deposition is widely recognized as a primary sink of carbon on geological timescales and is largely influenced by changes in climate, which in turn is linked to changes in paleogeography. The role of paleogeography on silicate weathering fluxes has been the focus of several studies in recent years. Their aims were mostly to constrain climatic parameters such as temperature and precipitation affecting weathering rates through time. However, constraining the availability of exposed land is crucial in assessing the theoretical amount of weathering on geological time scales. Associated with changes in climatic zones, the fluctuation of sea-level is critical for defining the amount of land exposed to weathering. The current reconstructions used in<sub></sub>models tend to overestimate the amount of exposed land to weathering at periods with high sea levels. Through the construction of continental flooding maps, we constrain the effective land area undergoing silicate weathering for the past 520 million years. Our maps not only reflect sea-level fluctuations but also contain climate-sensitive indicators such as coal (since the Early Devonian) and evaporites to evaluate climate gradients and potential weatherablity through time. This is particularly important after the Pangea supercontinent formed but also for some time after its break-up.</p><p>Whilst silicate weathering is an important CO<sub>2</sub> sink, volcanic carbon degassing is a major source but one of the least constrained climate forcing parameters. There is no clear consensus on the history of degassing through geological time as there are no direct proxies for reconstructing carbon degassing, but various proxy methods have been postulated. We propose new estimates of plate tectonic degassing for the Phanerozoic using both subduction flux from full-plate models and zircon age distribution from arcs (arc-activity) as proxies.</p><p>The effect of revised modelling parameters for weathering and degassing was tested in the well-known long-term models GEOCARBSULF and COPSE. They revealed the high influence of degassing on CO<sub>2</sub> levels using those models, highlighting the need for enhanced research in this direction. The use of arc-activity as a proxy for carbon degassing leads to interesting responses in the Mesozoic and brings model estimates closer to CO<sub>2 </sub> proxy values. However, from simulations using simultaneously the revised input parameters (i.e weathering and degassing) large model-proxy discrepancies remain and notably for the Triassic and Jurassic.</p><p> </p>

Uncertainty analysis of statistically downscaled temperature and precipitation regimes in Northern Canada

2007 ◽  
Vol 91 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 149-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. B. Dibike ◽  
P. Gachon ◽  
A. St-Hilaire ◽  
T. B. M. J. Ouarda ◽  
Van T.-V. Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Uncertainty Analysis ◽  
Northern Canada ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation Regimes

scholarly journals Climatic Variables and Mass Balance Of Alpine Glaciers During A Period Of Climate Fluctuation

1990 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 333-333
Author(s):  
David N. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Multiple Regression ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Climatic Variables ◽  
Glacier Mass Balance ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation Regimes ◽  
Precipitation And Temperature

Parameterisation of relationships between climate and glacier mass balance is of considerable importance in understanding and modelling how temporal variability in climate affects the quantity of perennial snow and ice stored in glaciers, and the runoff from glacierised areas. Influences of year-to-year variations in air temperatures are pertinent in the absence of long records of measured energy balance and in view of predictions of future climate scenarios in terms of temperature. Measurements of temperature and precipitation from several stations in Alpine valleys in the Rhone basin, Wallis, Switzerland have been analysed to indicate trends in climate from 1930 to 1988. Actual measurements of mass balance of Griesgletscher, ablation calculated from runoff and net accumulation estimated from totalising rain gauges for Findelengletscher and Gornergletscher beginning in the late 1960s, and runoff from Aletschgletscher since 1930, were taken as annual glaciological responses to climatic variation. Variables to represent climatic elements and interactions between precipitation and temperature were selected according to degree of correlation with glacier response variables, and climate-glacier response relationships were assessed by multiple regression. Subsets of the data representing the coolest (1972–81) and warmest (1943–52) decades were also analysed to indicate whether relationships amongst climatic variables and between climate and mass balance remain the same under contrasting climatic conditions.Overall, mean summer air temperature variables for the months May through September and June through August provide the highest levels of explanation of variance of ablation and mass balance respectively (75–82%). Addition of a precipitation variable (winter, spring or summer) in multiple regression increases explanation to a maximum of 91%. Spring and summer precipitation variables are negatively correlated with ablation. Positive degree days and temperature-summer snow functions provide alternatives to temperature. Event-based analysis of the coolest and warmest years selected by rank order invokes high precipitation in May and low May-June temperatures and summer snowfall events as significant variables.Relationships between climatic variables indicate that warmer-than-average winters have higher precipitation, but at summer and annual time scales precipitation is slightly negatively associated with temperature. At the decadal level, warmer periods appear to be influenced by increased frequency of continental anticyclonic conditions, in an area subject to both maritime and continental influences. These analyses of climatic variables indicate that summer energy inputs dominate glacier mass balance. Relationships between precipitation and temperature are complex and were changeable during a fluctuation of about 1° over 40 years. Effects of a potentially warmer future on the form of precipitation in spring, summer and autumn are not clear, so estimates of changes of mass balance have been calculated for contrasting precipitation regimes.

scholarly journals Scientistsʼ Warning on Climate Change and Medicinal Plants

Planta Medica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (01) ◽  
pp. 10-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy L. Applequist ◽  
Josef A. Brinckmann ◽  
Anthony B. Cunningham ◽  
Robbie E. Hart ◽  
Michael Heinrich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Medicinal Plants ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Medicinal Species ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Anthropogenic Habitat ◽  
Precipitation Regimes ◽  
Chemical Content ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change

AbstractThe recent publication of a World Scientistsʼ Warning to Humanity highlighted the fact that climate change, absent strenuous mitigation or adaptation efforts, will have profound negative effects for humanity and other species, affecting numerous aspects of life. In this paper, we call attention to one of these aspects, the effects of climate change on medicinal plants. These plants provide many benefits for human health, particularly in communities where Western medicine is unavailable. As for other species, their populations may be threatened by changing temperature and precipitation regimes, disruption of commensal relationships, and increases in pests and pathogens, combined with anthropogenic habitat fragmentation that impedes migration. Additionally, medicinal species are often harvested unsustainably, and this combination of pressures may push many populations to extinction. A second issue is that some species may respond to increased environmental stresses not only with declines in biomass production but with changes in chemical content, potentially affecting quality or even safety of medicinal products. We therefore recommend actions including conservation and local cultivation of valued plants, sustainability training for harvesters and certification of commercial material, preservation of traditional knowledge, and programs to monitor raw material quality in addition to, of course, efforts to mitigate climate change.

scholarly journals ASD Phenotype—Genotype Associations in Concordant and Discordant Monozygotic and Dizygotic Twins Stratified by Severity of Autistic Traits

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (15) ◽  
pp. 3804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hu ◽  
Devlin ◽  
Debski
Keyword(s):  
Neurodevelopmental Disorder ◽  
Significant Snps ◽  
Autistic Traits ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Association Analyses ◽  
Dizygotic Twins ◽  
Severity Scores ◽  
Control Association

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social communication coupled with stereotyped behaviors and restricted interests. Despite the high concordance rate for diagnosis, there is little information on the magnitude of genetic contributions to specific ASD behaviors. Using behavioral/trait severity scores from the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) diagnostic instrument, we compared the phenotypic profiles of mono- and dizygotic twins where both co-twins were diagnosed with ASD or only one twin had a diagnosis. The trait distribution profiles across the respective twin populations were first used for quantitative trait association analyses using publicly available genome-wide genotyping data. Trait-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were then used for case-control association analyses, in which cases were defined as individuals in the lowest (Q1) and highest (Q4) quartiles of the severity distribution curves for each trait. While all of the ASD-diagnosed twins exhibited similar trait severity profiles, the non-autistic dizygotic twins exhibited significantly lower ADI-R item scores than the non-autistic monozygotic twins. Case-control association analyses of twins stratified by trait severity revealed statistically significant SNPs with odds ratios that clearly distinguished individuals in Q4 from those in Q1. While the level of shared genomic variation is a strong determinant of the severity of autistic traits in the discordant non-autistic twins, the similarity of trait profiles in the concordantly autistic dizygotic twins also suggests a role for environmental influences. Stratification of cases by trait severity resulted in the identification of statistically significant SNPs located near genes over-represented within autism gene datasets.

scholarly journals Copy Number Variation of the PIGY Gene in Sheep and Its Association Analysis with Growth Traits

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziting Feng ◽  
Xinyu Li ◽  
Jie Cheng ◽  
Rui Jiang ◽  
Ruolan Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Copy Number Variation ◽  
Association Analysis ◽  
Copy Number ◽  
Growth Traits ◽  
Gansu Province ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Association Analyses ◽  
Qinghai Province ◽  
Real Time Quantitative Pcr ◽  
Number Variation

Copy number variation (CNV) is a type of genomic variation with an important effect on animal phenotype. We found that the PIGY gene contains a 3600 bp copy number variation (CNV) region located in chromosome 6 of sheep (Oar_v4.0 36,121,601–36,125,200 bp). This region overlaps with multiple quantitative trait loci related to phenotypes like muscle density and carcass weight. Therefore, in this study, the copy number variation of the PIGY gene was screened in three Chinese sheep breeds, namely, Chaka sheep (CKS, May of 2018, Wulan County, Qinghai Province, China), Hu sheep (HS, May of 2015, Mengjin County, Henan Province, China), and small-tailed Han sheep (STHS, May of 2016, Yongjing, Gansu Province, China). Association analyses were performed on the presence of CNV and sheep body size traits. We used real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) to detect the CNV for association analysis. According to the results, the loss-type CNV was more common than other types in the three breeds (global average: loss = 61.5%, normal = 17.5%, and gain = 21.0%). The association analysis also showed significant effects of the PIGY gene CNV on body weight, chest circumference, and circumference of the cannon bone of sheep. Sheep with gain-type CNV had better growth traits than those with other types. The results indicate a clear relationship between the PIGY gene CNV and growth traits of sheep, suggesting the use of CNV as a new molecular breeding marker.

scholarly journals The Genomic Variation in the Aosta Cattle Breeds Raised in an Extensive Alpine Farming System

Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2385
Author(s):  
Maria Giuseppina Strillacci ◽  
Mario Vevey ◽  
Veruska Blanchet ◽  
Roberto Mantovani ◽  
Cristina Sartori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Principal Component ◽  
Enrichment Analysis ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Genomic Variation ◽  
Dual Purpose ◽  
Cattle Breeds ◽  
Dual Purpose Cattle ◽  
Summer Pasture ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Genomic Inbreeding

The Aosta Red Pied (Valdostana Pezzata Rossa (VRP)), the Aosta Black Pied (Valdostana Pezzata Nera (VBP)) and the Aosta Chestnut (Valdostana Castana (CAS)) are dual-purpose cattle breeds (meat and milk), very well adapted to the harsh environmental conditions of alpine territories: their farming is in fact characterized by summer pasture at very high altitude. A total of 728 individuals were genotyped with the GeenSeek Genomic Profiler® (GGP) Bovine 150K Illumina SNP chip as a part of the DUALBREEDING-PSRN Italian-funded research project. The genetic diversity among populations showed that the three breeds are distinct populations based on the FST values, ADMIXTURE and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) results. Runs of Homozygosity (ROH) were obtained for the three populations to disclose recent autozygosity. The genomic inbreeding based on the ROH was calculated and coupled with information derived from the F (inbreeding coefficient) and FST parameters. The mean FROH values were low: CAS = 0.06, VBP = 0.05 and VRP = 0.07, while the average F values were −0.003, −0.01 and −0.003, respectively. The annotation and enrichment analysis, performed in the identified most frequent ROH (TOP_ROH), showed genes that can be linked to the resilience capacity of these populations to harsh environmental farming conditions, and to the peculiar characteristics searched for by farmers in each breed.

Climate drives differences in the germination niche of a globally distributed invasive grass

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-203
Author(s):  
Rebecca A Fletcher ◽  
Kayla M Varnon ◽  
Jacob N Barney
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Seed Germination ◽  
Invasive Plants ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Invasive Grass ◽  
Climate Gradients ◽  
Exotic Invasive Species ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Wide Range

Abstract Aims Exotic invasive species are often exposed to strong selection pressures in their new ranges that can often lead to substantial intraspecific variation. Population differentiation in the timing of life history events in response to climate gradients is thought to be an important mechanism facilitating the range expansion of many invasive species. For seed producing plants, the timing of seed germination determines the first environmental conditions experienced by newly emerged germinates, and can have important implications for the successful colonization, establishment and spread of invasive plants—though the role of germination in the success of invasive plants remains poorly understood. Methods We assessed the variation in seed germination dynamics among 10 populations of the invasive plant Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense) across its North American distribution, capturing both a temperature and precipitation gradient, and whether that variation is associated with home climate. Seeds were exposed to a wide range of temperatures (11–48°C) and two water availability treatments. Important Findings We found that Johnsongrass seeds germinated across a wide range of temperatures, but there was substantial variation among populations in the proportion of seeds that germinated in response to both temperature and water availability. Evidence indicates that as Johnsongrass expanded its range from warmer climates into cooler climates, there was a concurrent shift in the germination temperature niche to cooler temperatures. Our results suggest that the germination of Johnsongrass seeds has adapted to home climate allowing this invader to maximize germination throughout its range, and that this may be an important contributing factor to its invasion into new environments.

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