Herbarium records reveal sex-specific effects of climate warming on phenology of Fragaria virginiana
Submission Type
Poster
Abstract
Plant populations tend to be hermaphroditic, but in some cases can diverge into a dioecious sexual system, or one that possesses both male and female members. Prior studies show a correlation between sex systems evolution such as these and ecological variables. These variables impose challenges on plants' ability to propagate and in a dioecious population, males and females have been seen to respond differently to different environmental contexts. What is still being studied is the degree to which biogeography contributes to the sexual differentiation of dioecious species. While evidence supports the idea of a latitudinal gradient contributing to sexual differentiation, it remains unanswered whether a temporal gradient is also a driver of this divergence. We used digitized herbarium records of the dioecious plant Fragaria virginiana from throughout the United States and Canada to test these hypotheses. We determined whether F. virginiana records were male or female and characterized their phenological (life cycle) stage. We sampled records spanning over 170 years to determine how the timing of distinct phenological stages has shifted in males and females over time. To date we have examined roughly 7000 digitized records spanning from 1850-2021. Preliminary analyses suggest that F. virginiana has shifted flowering almost 3 weeks earlier now than in 1850. I will score 400 more samples before concluding the initial phenology scoring of records. We will also perform analyses to test whether male and female F. virginiana are differentially shifting timing of phenological phases over time. Additionally, we will test whether shifts in phenophase over the last 170 years can be explained by changing climatic variables (temperature, precipitation, frost). All analyses will control for spatial clustering of samples.
Included in
Herbarium records reveal sex-specific effects of climate warming on phenology of Fragaria virginiana
Plant populations tend to be hermaphroditic, but in some cases can diverge into a dioecious sexual system, or one that possesses both male and female members. Prior studies show a correlation between sex systems evolution such as these and ecological variables. These variables impose challenges on plants' ability to propagate and in a dioecious population, males and females have been seen to respond differently to different environmental contexts. What is still being studied is the degree to which biogeography contributes to the sexual differentiation of dioecious species. While evidence supports the idea of a latitudinal gradient contributing to sexual differentiation, it remains unanswered whether a temporal gradient is also a driver of this divergence. We used digitized herbarium records of the dioecious plant Fragaria virginiana from throughout the United States and Canada to test these hypotheses. We determined whether F. virginiana records were male or female and characterized their phenological (life cycle) stage. We sampled records spanning over 170 years to determine how the timing of distinct phenological stages has shifted in males and females over time. To date we have examined roughly 7000 digitized records spanning from 1850-2021. Preliminary analyses suggest that F. virginiana has shifted flowering almost 3 weeks earlier now than in 1850. I will score 400 more samples before concluding the initial phenology scoring of records. We will also perform analyses to test whether male and female F. virginiana are differentially shifting timing of phenological phases over time. Additionally, we will test whether shifts in phenophase over the last 170 years can be explained by changing climatic variables (temperature, precipitation, frost). All analyses will control for spatial clustering of samples.
Comments
Trezalka Budinsky, Nevin Cullen, Aaron Liston, Tia-Lynn Ashman