Data from: Phenotypic plasticity and genetic diversity shed light on endemism of rare Boechera perstellata and its potential vulnerability to climate warming
Data files
Sep 12, 2023 version files 257.80 KB
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Boechera_FSTAT_MLGs_for_Illinois.dat
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Boechera_Genetic_Data_GenAlEx_format.xlsx
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Boechera_Traits_Data.xlsx
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README.md
Abstract
Premise of the study: The rapid pace of contemporary environmental change puts many species at risk, especially rare species constrained by limited capacity to adapt or migrate due to low genetic diversity and/or fitness. But the ability to acclimate can provide another way to persist through change. We compared the capacity of rare Boechera perstellata (Braun’s rockcress) and widespread B. laevigata to acclimate to change.
Methods: We investigated the phenotypic plasticity of growth, biomass allocation, and leaf morphology of individuals of B. perstellata and B. laevigata propagated from seed collected from several populations throughout their ranges in a growth chamber experiment to assess their capacity to acclimate. Concurrently, we assessed the genetic diversity of sampled populations using 17 microsatellite loci to assess evolutionary potential.
Key results: Plasticity was limited in both rare B. perstellata and widespread B. laevigata, but differences in the plasticity of root traits between species suggest that B. perstellata may have less capacity to acclimate to change. In contrast to its widespread congener, B. perstellata exhibited no plasticity in response to temperature and weaker plastic responses to water availability. As expected, B. perstellata also had lower levels of observed heterozygosity than B. laevigata at the species level, but population-level trends in diversity measures were inconsistent due to high heterogeneity among B. laevigata populations.
Conclusions: Overall, the ability of phenotypic plasticity to broadly explain the rarity of B. perstellata vs. commonness of B. laevigata is limited. However, some contextual aspects of our plasticity findings compared with its relatively low genetic variability may shed light on the narrow range and habitat associations of B. perstellata and suggest its vulnerability to climate warming due to acclimatory and evolutionary constraints.
README
Phenotypic plasticity and genetic diversity shed light on endemism and vulnerability of rare Boechera perstellata relative to a widespread congener---
The following data files are available for download:
- Boechera_Traits_Data.xlsx
- Boechera_Genetic_Data_GenAlEx_format.xlsx
- Boechera_FSTAT_MLGs_for_Illinois.dat
Description of the data and file structure:
Boechera_Traits_Data_Set.xlsx includes all data from the growth chamber experiments. The first sheet provides a description of the data in the other sheets of the spreadsheet. The second sheet includes survival and trait values data. The third sheet contains trait plasticity data. Variables include:
TREATMENT: Environmental condition (ambient, light = double ambient = 500 mmol photons m-2 s-1, temperature = 2 degrees C warmer than ambient = 22/32 degrees C day/night, water = double ambient = 100% field capacity)
SPECIES: Plant species (rare Boechera perstellata, common Boechera laevigata)
POPULATION: Location of population (B. perstellata: TN1 = Rutherford County, TN; TN 2 = Smith County, TN; KY1 = Franklin County, KY; KY2 = Franklin County KY; B. laevigata: TN = Cheatham County, TN; IL = Bunker Hill, Cook County, IL; PA = Clarion County, PA)
INDIVIDUAL: Individual ID (represents half-siblings to siblings across chambers)
SURVIVED: 1 = survived, 0 = did not survive
HEIGHT: Shoot height (cm)
LEAVES: Number of leaves
ROOTLENGTH: Root length (cm)
SHOOTMASS: Dry shoot mass (g)
ROOTMASS: Dry root mass (g)
BIOMASS: Total dry biomass (g)
RSR_LENGTH: Root-to-shoot length ratio (ROOT_L cm HEIGHT cm-1)
RSR_MASS: Root-to-shoot mass ratio (ROOTMASS g SHOOTMASS g-1)
SRL: Specific root length (ROOT_L cm ROOTMASS g-1)
SLA: Specific leaf area (cm2 g-1)
RDPI_HEIGHT: Relative Distances Plasticity Index of shoot height in response to treatment (described in column A)
RDPI_LEAVES: Relative Distances Plasticity Index of number of leaves in response to treatment (described in column A)
RDPI_ROOTLENGTH: Relative Distances Plasticity Indexof root length in response to treatment (described in column A)
RDPI_ROOTMASS: Relative Distances Plasticity Index of dry root mass in response to treatment (described in column A)
RDPI_RSR_LENGTH: Relative Distances Plasticity Index of root-to-shoot length ratio in response to treatment (described in column A)
RDPI_RSR_MASS: Relative Distances Plasticity Index of root-to-shoot mass ratio in response to treatment (described in column A)
RDPI_SRL: Relative Distances Plasticity Index of specific root length in response to treatment (described in column A)
RDPI_SLA: Relative Distances Plasticity Index of specific leaf area in response to treatment (described in column A)
n/a: data not available (due to missing sample, individual death prior to measurement, inabiity to effectively separate roots from soil to yield accurate root measurements, inability to measure leaf-level photosynthesis due to plant size, and/or missing values required to calculate a variable)Boechera_Genetic_Data_GenAlEx_format.xlsx includes all genetic (microsatellite) data relevant to the plants from the growth chamber experiments. The first sheet provides a description of the contents of the other sheets in the spreadsheet. All data sheets are formatted as specified in the GenAlEx users manual. Link for GenAlEx users manual: https://biology-assets.anu.edu.au/GenAlEx/Download_files/GenAlEx%206.5%20Guide.pdfCitations for GenAlEx: Peakall, R.; Smouse, P. E. GENALEX 6: genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research. Molecular Ecology Notes 2006, 6, 288?295.Peakall, R.; Smouse, P. E. GenAlEx 6.5: genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research- an update. Bioinformatics 2012, 28, 25372539.
Boechera_FSTAT_MLGs_for_Illinois.dat is an FSTAT data file, formatted as detailed in the FSTAT users manual. All rows of data are in the same order as in the GenAlEx spreadsheet. However, unlike for the GenAlEx spreadsheet, only unique multi-locus genotypes were included for the presumed apomictic Illinois population of B. laevigata (i.e.the population labeled 6 in the FSTAT file), resulting in a sample size of 9 individuals (MLGs) for that population. Citation for FSTAT (including the link for access to the users manual):Goudet J. FSTAT (version 1.2): a computer program to calculate F-statistics.J. Hered.1995, 86,485486.Goudet J. Fstat (ver. 2.9.4), a program to estimate and test population genetics parameters, 2003. Available at http://www.t-de-meeus.fr/Programs/Fstat294.zipAvailable at. (Updated from Goudet 1995)