A new study published in Global Change Biology and coauthored by researchers from UT, explores how climate, evolution, plants, and soils are linked.
A new study published in Global Change Biology and coauthored by researchers from UT, explores how climate, evolution, plants, and soils are linked. The research is the first to show how climate-driven evolution in tree populations alters the way trees directly interact with their immediate soil environment.
By surveying 17 naturally occurring populations of narrowleaf cottonwood trees (Populus angustifolia), the researchers discovered that tree populations in warmer places have less genetic variation. This difference, in turn, has consequences for their soil microbial communities and soil chemical composition.
“Future climate change could reduce the potential for adaptation in plants, especially in less genetically varied populations. In order to cope with these stressful conditions, plants may be developing a stronger relationship with their soil microbiome and nutrients. It may be a mechanism for persistence in a changing world,” said Ian Ware, PhD candidate in UT’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and lead author of the study.
Read more at University of Tennessee
Image: A mature, gallery forest of narrowleaf cottonwoods on the Snake River, Wyoming. CREDIT: Ian Ware.
