Morphological variation of leaf traits in the Ternstroemia lineata species complex (Ericales: Penthaphylacaceae) in response to geographic and climatic variation

PeerJ. 2020 Jan 10:8:e8307. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8307. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Variation in leaf morphology is correlated with environmental variables, such as precipitation, temperature and soil composition. Several studies have pointed out that individual plasticity can largely explain the foliar phenotypic differences observed in populations due to climatic change and have suggested that the environment plays an important role in the evolution of plant species by selecting for phenotypic variation. Thus, the study of foliar morphology in plant populations can help us identify the environmental factors that have potentially influenced the process of species diversification. In this study, we analyzed morphological variation in the leaf traits of the Ternstroemia lineata species complex (Penthaphylacaceae) and its relation to climatic variables across the species distribution area to identify the patterns of morphological differentiation within this species complex. Based on the collected leaves of 270 individuals from 32 populations, we analyzed nine foliar traits using spatial interpolation models and multivariate statistics. A principal component analysis identified three main morphological traits (leaf length and two leaf shape variables) that were used to generate interpolated surface maps to detect discrete areas delimited by zones of rapid change in the values of the morphological traits. We identified a mosaic coarse-grain pattern of geographical distribution in the variation of foliar traits. According to the interpolation maps, we could define nine morphological groups and their geographic distributions. Longer leaves, spatulate leaves and the largest foliar area were located in sites with lower precipitation and higher seasonality of precipitation following a northwest-southeast direction and following significant latitudinal and longitudinal gradients. According to the phenogram of the relationships of the nine morphological groups based on morphological similarity, the putative species and subspecies of the T. lineata species complex did not show a clear pattern of differentiation. In this study, we found a complex pattern of differentiation with some isolated populations and some other contiguous populations differentiated by different traits. Further genetic and systematic studies are needed to clarify the evolutionary relationships in this species complex.

Keywords: Geographical variation; Leaf traits; Morphological variation; Species complex; Ternstroemia.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (PhD grant for Othón Alcántara-Ayala No. 245683) and the Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico-Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica (No. IV201015 and No. IN215914). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.