Genetic basis of growth reaction to drought stress differs in contrasting high-latitude treeline ecotones of a widespread conifer.

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of drought events in many boreal forests. Trees are sessile organisms with a long generation time, which makes them vulnerable to fast climate change and hinders fast adaptations. Therefore, it is important to know how forests cope with drought stress and to explore the genetic basis of these reactions. We investigated three natural populations of white spruce (Picea glauca) in Alaska, located at one drought-limited and two cold-limited treelines with a paired plot design of one forest and one treeline plot. We obtained individual increment cores from 458 trees and climate data to assess dendrophenotypes, in particular the growth reaction to drought stress. To explore the genetic basis of these dendrophenotypes, we genotyped the individual trees at 3000 single nucleotide polymorphisms in candidate genes and performed genotype-phenotype association analysis using linear mixed models and Bayesian sparse linear mixed models. Growth reaction to drought stress differed in contrasting treeline populations. Therefore, the populations are likely to be unevenly affected by climate change. We identified 40 genes associated with dendrophenotypic traits that differed among the treeline populations. Most genes were identified in the drought-limited site, indicating comparatively strong selection pressure of drought-tolerant phenotypes. Contrasting patterns of drought-associated genes among sampled sites and in comparison to Canadian populations in a previous study suggest that drought adaptation acts on a local scale. Our results highlight genes that are associated with wood traits which in turn are critical for the establishment and persistence of future forests under climate change.

Population structure and the influence of microenvironment and genetic similarity on individual growth at Alaskan white spruce treelines.

Knowledge on the adaptation of trees to rapid environmental changes is essential to preserve forests and their ecosystem services under climate change. Treeline populations are particularly suitable for studying adaptation processes in trees, as environmental stress together with reduced gene flow can enhance local adaptation. We investigated white spruce (Picea glauca) populations in Alaska on one moisture-limited and two cold-limited treeline sites with a paired plot design of one forest and one treeline population each, resulting in six plots. Additionally, one forest plot in the middle of the distribution range complements the study design. We combined spatial, climatic and dendrochronological data with neutral genetic marker of 2203 trees to investigate population genetic structure and drivers of tree growth. We used several individual-based approaches including random slope mixed-effects models to test the influence of genetic similarity and microenvironment on growth performance. A high degree of genetic diversity was found within each of the seven plots associated with high rates of gene flow. We discovered a low genetic differentiation between the three sites which was better explained by geographic distances than by environmental differences, indicating genetic drift as the main driver of population differentiation. Our findings indicated that microenvironmental features had an overall larger influence on growth performances than genetic similarity among individuals. The effects of climate on growth differed between sites but were smaller than the effect of tree size. Overall, our results suggest that the high genetic diversity of white spruce may result in a wider range of phenotypes which enhances the efficiency of selection when the species is facing rapid climatic changes. In addition, the large intra-individual variability in growth responses may indicate the high phenotypic plasticity of white spruce which can buffer short-term environmental changes and, thus, allow enduring the present changing climate conditions.

Xylem Anatomical Variability in White Spruce at Treeline Is Largely Driven by Spatial Clustering.

The ecological function of boreal forests is challenged by drastically changing climate conditions. Although an increasing number of studies are investigating how climate change is influencing growth and distribution of boreal tree species, there is a lack of studies examining the potential of these species to genetically adapt or phenotypically adjust. Here, we sampled clonally and non-clonally growing white spruce trees (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) to investigate spatial and genetic effects on tree ring width and on six xylem anatomical traits representing growth, water transport, mechanical support, and wood density. We compared different methods for estimating broad sense heritability (H2) of each trait and we evaluated the effects of spatial grouping and genetic grouping on the xylem anatomical traits with linear models. We found that the three different methods used to estimate H2 were quite robust, showing overall consistent patterns, while our analyses were unsuccessful at fully separating genetic from spatial effects. By evaluating the effect size, we found a significant effect of genetic grouping in latewood density and earlywood hydraulic diameter. However, evaluating model performances showed that spatial grouping was a better predictor than genetic grouping for variance in earlywood density, earlywood hydraulic diameter and growth. For cell wall thickness neither spatial nor genetic grouping was significant. Our findings imply that (1) the variance in the investigated xylem anatomical traits and growth is mainly influenced by spatial clustering (most probably caused by microhabitat conditions), which (2) makes it rather difficult to estimate the heritability of these traits in naturally grown trees in situ. Yet, (3) latewood density and earlywood hydraulic diameter qualified for further analysis on the genetic background of xylem traits and (4) cell wall thickness seems a useful trait to investigate large-scale climatic effects, decoupled from microclimatic, edaphic and genetic influences.