| Affiliation: | 1. Laboratory of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University, 036-8561 Hirosaki, Japan;2. Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Chikusa, 464-8601 Nagoya, Japan;3. Laboratory of Forest Sciences, Department of Biological Environment, Akita Prefectural University, 010-0195 Akita, Japan Forest Tree Breeding Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 319-1301 Hitachi, Japan;4. Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture, 88 Sodai, Mino, 501-3714 Gifu, Japan;5. Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Ecosystem Management, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, 680-8553 Tottori, Japan |
| Abstract: | Natural plant populations consist of individuals that exhibit variation in their phenotypic traits and demographic parameters. Here we report a study on maternal effects and the effects of different light environments on intra-specific variation in survivorship and ecologically relevant phenotypic traits of Fagus crenata seedlings in a cool-temperate forest community. We collected 901 seedlings from the ground beneath five maternal trees and used microsatellite DNA markers to identify maternal siblings that germinated naturally in the forest community. Selected seedlings were planted at three sites––one under a closed canopy with low light availability, one under a canopy gap in the natural forest community with moderate light availability, and one in a common garden with high light availability. The proportion of seedlings that were correctly assigned to their putative mother ranged from 60.0 to 82.7 % per maternal family, and 655 (72.7 %) seedlings in total were used for the analysis of survivorship and phenotypic traits. Among-family differences in survivorship remained after correcting for the effects of initial stem size during the first year after planting. However, this difference in survivorship became less pronounced in subsequent years. Seedlings grown under the canopy gap and/or in the common garden exhibited better performance in terms of phenotypic traits such as stem, leaf, and root morphology. In addition, seedlings of different maternal origins grown in the same environments had different individual leaf areas. These findings suggest that phenotypic variation due to maternal effects was a significant source of intra-specific variation within the local population. |
