Variable germination phenology leads to divergence in environmental tracking for Phacelia fimbriata and P. purshii populations of the American southeast
D'Aguillo M. 2025. Variable germination phenology leads to divergence in environmental tracking for Phacelia fimbriata and P. purshii populations of the American southeast. Journal of Ecology
ABSTRACT: Geographic variation in germination phenology of Phacelia populations leads to divergence, not convergence, of the temperature experienced by seedlings during establishment, reflecting that populations are likely specialized to different seedling environments. This work demonstrates that measuring phenology in an ‘environmental currency’ rather than an ordinal ‘date of event’ enables the testing of specific hypotheses about the nature of environmental tracking through phenology: namely, if populations differ in environmental tracking, if environmental tracking is adaptive and if consistent tracking can persist with environmental change. When phenological plasticity is not sufficient to maintain environmental tracking in new locations, differences in physiological tolerances, increased specialization and/or shifts in environmental cueing may need to jointly evolve with phenology for populations to persist.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- D'Aguillo, Michelle
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- Cades Cove, germination, GRSM-01238, habitat selection, habitat specialization, habitat tracking, Kuwohi Road, Phacelia fimbriata, phenological plasticity, phenology, plasticity, seedling establishment, vascular plants