High Phenotypic Plasticity in a Prominent Plant Invader along Altitudinal and Temperature Gradients

作者：Rodolfo Gentili, Roberto Ambrosini, Benno A. Augustinus, Sarah Caronni, Elisa Cardarelli, Chiara Montagnani, Heinz Müller‐Schärer, Urs Schaffner, Sandra Citterio · 发表于：Plants · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.3390/plants10102144 · 被引用次数：18 · 研究领域：Plant and animal studies、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Plant Parasitism and Resistance

L. (common ragweed) collected from an agricultural site in Northern Italy (226 m. a.s.l; Mean Annual Air Temperature: 12.9 °C; precipitations: 930 mm) to determine variation in growth trajectories and plant traits when grown along a 1000-m altitudinal gradient in Northern Italy, and under different temperature conditions in the growth chamber (from 14/18 °C to 26/30 °C, night/day), using a non-liner modeling approach. Under field conditions, traits related to plant height (maximum height, stem height, number of internodes) followed a three-parameter logistic curve. In contrast, leaf traits (lateral spread, number of leaves, leaf length and width) followed non-monotonic double-Richards curves that captured the decline patterns evident in the data. Plants grew faster, reaching a higher maximum plant height, and produced more biomass when grown at intermediate elevations. Under laboratory conditions, plants exhibited the same general growth trajectory of field conditions. However, leaf width did not show the recession after the maximum value shown by plants grown in the field, although the growth trajectories of some individuals, particularly those grown at 18 °C, showed a decline at late times. In addition, the plants grown at lower temperatures exhibited the highest value of biomass and preserved reproductive performances (e.g., amount of male inflorescence, pollen weight). From our findings, common ragweed exhibits a high phenotypic plasticity of vegetative and reproductive t...