Phenotypic Plasticity and Genetic Variation of Leaf Pigment Content in a Southern Beech

Phenotypic Plasticity and Genetic Variation of Leaf Pigment Content in a Southern Beech | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Phenotypic Plasticity and Genetic Variation of Leaf Pigment Content in a Southern Beech Jorge Andres Arias Rios, Veronica Andrea El Mujtar, Mario Juan Pastorino, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-889256/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Physiological, morphological and phenological attributes are potentially adaptive traits that determine functional responses to certain environmental conditions. They are crucial for understanding adaptations to environmental variation along a species natural range. In particular, leaf pigment content can be a good proxy to the physiological and phenological tree state. Our goal was to evaluate the variation in pigment traits among Nothofagus alpina populations in a common garden trail during two years to infer local adaptation and/or phenotypic plasticity. We also aim to analyse the correlation between pigment traits and phenological traits and climatic data from the geographic location of the populations. To comprise the entire range of the species in Argentina, we analysed 400 individuals from eight natural populations coming from four lake watersheds. Pigment traits were estimated using a spectrophotometer and analysed with linear mixed model (LMM). Significant differences among fixed factors (populations - years and watershed – years) were found in chlorophyl a, b, total, carotenoids and anthocyanins concentrations. Higher concentrations were found for 2018, year with the highest number of rainy days and accumulated precipitation. Two populations (Boquete and Tren Tren) were always the most contrasting ones. At population level, the correlation between the means of pigment concentrations and phenological traits was significant in almost all cases. Conversely, the correlation between the means of population pigment concentrations and the main geographic, climatic and bioclimatic variables of the home range were not significant. The significance of the environmental factor (year) in the linear mixed models tested is evidence of phenotypic plasticity of pigment content, suggesting flexibility for acclimatization to moderate inter-annual changes in climatic conditions. The significance of population and watershed and the influence of the family factor on the variance of the pigment traits are evidence of the genetic control as well as the potential adaptive value of leaf pigment content in N. alpina , giving a base for adaptation to a long-lasting change in climate. High correlations between phenological and pigment traits indicate that, in N. alpina , the determination of only one pigment concentration could be used as a proxy of bud burst, senescence and growing degree days. Forestry Agricultural Economics & Policy chlorophyll carotenoids anthocyanins Nothofagus alpina. Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-889256","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":52786529,"identity":"49a1b8d9-7531-4b44-b7ac-efb2159e3935","order_by":0,"name":"Jorge Andres Arias Rios","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABAklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACxgYgwQZmPUiACLERrYXZIIHBgBgtCMAmwUCMFv7Zhxs//mDgkzPvX3ys4uGOP/IM/IuPPWCouYdTi8S5xGZpHgY2Y5kbz9JuJJ4xMGyQeJZuwHCsGLc1ZxgbpIFOSZwhccbsRmKbAWMDkCHBwJaAU4f8Gcbmnz/AWs5/KwBqsYdo+Ydbi8EZxjYJHpAW/h42BqCWxAb+HjMJxjbcWgyBWqx5DNiMJSSAOLHNOLlNgi3dILEPtxa5M+yPb/6oOCYnwX/44cefbXK2/fyHjz348A23FqjzjgHDDqqIDcQgpAEIaoAxdADKhjNGwSgYBaNgFEAAAGn7TlEtaRsRAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2101-5749","institution":"CONICET Patagonia Norte","correspondingAuthor":true,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jorge","middleName":"Andres Arias","lastName":"Rios","suffix":""},{"id":52786530,"identity":"db87e08e-a315-4a7d-93f0-41997c654164","order_by":1,"name":"Veronica Andrea El Mujtar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"IFAB (INTA-CONICET)","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Veronica","middleName":"Andrea El","lastName":"Mujtar","suffix":""},{"id":52786531,"identity":"e67a4a64-8b7e-474b-b32f-346dda667d73","order_by":2,"name":"Mario Juan Pastorino","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"IFAB (INTA-CONICET)","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mario","middleName":"Juan","lastName":"Pastorino","suffix":""},{"id":52786532,"identity":"6c2f27d3-c247-40e5-a86f-f2e362e07ed3","order_by":3,"name":"Paula Marchelli","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"IFAB (INTA-CONICET)","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Paula","middleName":"","lastName":"Marchelli","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2021-09-09 10:23:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-889256/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-889256/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":13825987,"identity":"3df21933-d072-46ef-aff7-c63ea6863850","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-09-21 14:42:50","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":847180,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AriasRios.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-889256/v1_covered.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003ePhenotypic Plasticity and Genetic Variation of Leaf Pigment Content in a Southern Beech\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[{"header":"Full Text","content":"This preprint is available for \u003ca href='/article/rs-889256/latest.pdf' target='_blank'\u003edownload as a PDF\u003c/a\u003e."}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"chlorophyll, carotenoids, anthocyanins, Nothofagus alpina.","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-889256/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-889256/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003ePhysiological, morphological and phenological attributes are potentially adaptive traits that determine functional responses to certain environmental conditions. They are crucial for understanding adaptations to environmental variation along a species natural range. In particular, leaf pigment content can be a good proxy to the physiological and phenological tree state. Our goal was to evaluate the variation in pigment traits among \u003cem\u003eNothofagus alpina\u003c/em\u003e populations in a common garden trail during two years to infer local adaptation and/or phenotypic plasticity. We also aim to analyse the correlation between pigment traits and phenological traits and climatic data from the geographic location of the populations. To comprise the entire range of the species in Argentina, we analysed 400 individuals from eight natural populations coming from four lake watersheds. Pigment traits were estimated using a spectrophotometer and analysed with linear mixed model (LMM). Significant differences among fixed factors (populations - years and watershed \u0026ndash; years) were found in chlorophyl a, b, total, carotenoids and anthocyanins concentrations. Higher concentrations were found for 2018, year with the highest number of rainy days and accumulated precipitation. Two populations (Boquete and Tren Tren) were always the most contrasting ones. At population level, the correlation between the means of pigment concentrations and phenological traits was significant in almost all cases. Conversely, the correlation between the means of population pigment concentrations and the main geographic, climatic and bioclimatic variables of the home range were not significant. The significance of the environmental factor (year) in the linear mixed models tested is evidence of phenotypic plasticity of pigment content, suggesting flexibility for acclimatization to moderate inter-annual changes in climatic conditions. The significance of population and watershed and the influence of the family factor on the variance of the pigment traits are evidence of the genetic control as well as the potential adaptive value of leaf pigment content in \u003cem\u003eN. alpina\u003c/em\u003e, giving a base for adaptation to a long-lasting change in climate. High correlations between phenological and pigment traits indicate that, in \u003cem\u003eN. alpina\u003c/em\u003e, the determination of only one pigment concentration could be used as a proxy of bud burst, senescence and growing degree days.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Phenotypic Plasticity and Genetic Variation of Leaf Pigment Content in a Southern Beech","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2021-09-21 14:42:43","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-889256/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"75de3bd0-b933-4fbf-8164-0223f99b413e","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 21st, 2021","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":7334795,"name":"Forestry"},{"id":7334796,"name":"Agricultural Economics \u0026 Policy"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2021-09-21T14:42:45+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2021-09-21 14:42:43","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-889256","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-889256","identity":"rs-889256","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"WrCJVZZCHTDjtuVLN7oU0","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}