Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2020, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (12): 1224-1235.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2020.0269

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Association of cone and seed traits of Pinus yunnanensis var. tenuifolia with geo-meteorological factors

BAI Tian-Dao, YU Chun-Lan, GAN Ze-Chao, LAI Hai-Rong, YANG Yin-Chao, HUANG Hou-Chen, JIANG Wei-Xin*()   

  1. College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Fast-growing Wood Breeding and Cultivation in Central and South China, Nanning 530004, China
  • Received:2020-08-06 Accepted:2020-10-26 Online:2020-12-20 Published:2021-04-01
  • Contact: JIANG Wei-Xin
  • About author:*(jwx_1985@163.com)
  • Supported by:
    Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi(2018GXNSFBA281110);National Natural Science Foundation of China (31400575).(31400575)

Abstract:

Aims Pinus yunnanensis var. tenuifolia is an ecologically and economically important timber tree located at the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi, China. The natural distribution area represents a typical habitat of hot-dry valley. This paper aimed to describe the association between variation patterns of cone and seed traits (CST) and the geo-meteorological factors, explore its ecological adaptability, and provide a reference for the genetic resources conservation, evaluation and utilization.
Methods We sampled eight wild populations of P. yunnanensis var. tenuifolia distributed along the Nanpan-Hongshui River basin. The CST among and within populations were analyzed via discriptive statistics and nested ANOVA. Correlations between CST and geo-meteorological were evaluated based on Pearson and canonical correlation coefficients. Principal component analysis and Mantel test were applied to reveal the geographic variation pattern.
Important findings Abundant variations of eleven CST among and within populations were indicated by the extremely significant difference of nested ANOVA results (p < 0.001). The variation within population was the main source (the average coefficient of phenotypic differentiation VST = 18.65%), and generally, the VST of cone traits (24.22%-39.88%) were larger than those of seed and wing traits (4.14%-13.80%), indicating more environment selection pressure on the cone traits. Majority of CST was positively correlated (though part of variable-pairs statistically insignificant) with latitude and longitude, annual average temperature, and negatively correlated with relative humidity and annual rainfall. This result suggests that the CST of P. yunnanensis var. tenuifolia is subjected to strong environmental selection, especially to temperature and relative humidity, prompting the species to adapt the hot-dry environment. Eight natural populations of P. yunnanensis var. tenuifolia were divided into three groups via principal component and cluster analysis. The two Luodian populations (WJ and DT) in the east were grouped into one group, and their cones and seeds were large. A population (BW) of Xingyi in the southwest belonged to a separate group, and its cones and seeds were small. The other populations were grouped together, and their CST fell between the first two groups. On the whole, the CST in P. yunnanensis var. tenuifolia increased from west to east. Mantel test exhibited a significant spatial structure among populations, and the variation pattern of populations was consistent with that of the cline.

Key words: Pinus yunnanensis var. tenuifolia, cone trait, seed trait, geographic variation, ecological adaptivity, genetic resources