Phenotypic plasticity and selection on leaf traits in response to snowmelt timing and summer precipitation

Vegetative traits of plants can respond directly to changes in the environment, such as those occurring under climate change. That phenotypic plasticity could be adaptive, maladaptive, or neutral. We manipulated the timing of spring snowmelt and amount of summer precipitation in factorial combination and examined responses of specific leaf area (SLA), trichome density, leaf water content (LWC), photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) in the subalpine herb Ipomopsis aggregata. The experiment was repeated in three years differing in natural timing of snowmelt. To examine natural selection, we used survival, relative growth rate, and flowering as fitness indices. A 50% reduction in summer precipitation reduced stomatal conductance and iWUE, and doubled precipitation increased LWC. Combining natural and experimental variation, earlier snowmelt reduced soil moisture, photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance, and increased trichome density and iWUE. Precipitation reduction reversed the mortality selection favoring high stomatal conductance under normal and doubled precipitation, and higher LWC improved growth. Earlier snowmelt is a strong signal of climate change and can change expression of leaf morphology and gas exchange traits, just as reduced precipitation can. Stomatal conductance and SLA showed adaptive plasticity under some conditions.

Automated summary

Plant traits can respond to climate change, but the plasticity of these traits can be adaptive or maladaptive. Reductions in summer precipitation lead to decreased stomatal conductance and intrinsic water-use efficiency, but increased leaf water content, while earlier snowmelt reduces soil moisture, photosynthetic rate, and stomatal conductance, and increases trichome density and intrinsic water-use efficiency.