Speaker
Description
With ongoing climate change, many plants are responding to changes in CO2 levels and temperatures. It was shown that frost events may become more frequent even with a general rise in temperature. In response, plants may shift their spring phenology to earlier dates and/or their range towards the poles and to higher elevations. Frost can become a potential risk for plant survival and performance, and frost resistance might be an important driver of the ability of plant species to change their phenology and range.
However, this has not been studied yet. We measured frost resistance in herbaceous plant species using the electrolyte leakage method. By sampling data in seven botanical gardens distributed over Europe located in five different climate zones, we can examine FR and phenological shifts in species including their local adaptions in regards of FR and phenology. Thereby we assume that 1) a species’ ability to shift their spring phenology to earlier dates is driven by their ability to tolerate late frost events, as shifts without high frost resistance will lead to frost damage. And 2) species’ ability to shift their distributional range towards the poles and higher elevational sites is driven by their ability to tolerate late-frost events, as the likelihood of late-frost events increases with these shifts. 3) FR of the same species differ between the locations as the temperature is influencing the FR of plant species leading to local adaptions. Results will be presented at the conference.
| Status Group | Doctoral Researcher |
|---|---|
| FOR TALKS: Poster Presentation Option | Yes, I’m willing to present as a poster. |