COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Adaptive Differentiation, Selection and Water Use of a Seasonally Dry Tropical Oak: Implications for Global Change

气候变化将改变植物环境的关键方面，如温度和水的可用性。人们对植物如何应对这些变化知之甚少，尤其是那些难以研究的物种，如长寿的热带树木。本项目研究了在中美洲不同气候条件下对热带橡树种群降水进行实验操纵的短期生理反应和长期进化变化的可能性。该项目调查了这些种群对他们目前所经历的气候的适应程度，以及他们对与未来预测相似的气候的潜在反应。关于幼苗期气候变化的影响是否会增强或限制树木在后期生命阶段的适应，将获得新的见解。此外，该研究将确定增强或限制这种热带树木适应变化气候的生理和遗传机制。该项目促进明尼苏达大学和萨莫拉诺大学（洪都拉斯）植物生态生理学和数量遗传学的本科生、博士生和博士后的教育、指导和培训。这项工作为洪都拉斯和哥斯达黎加的拉丁美洲本科生和准分类学家提供了独特的培训和指导机会。它还将在明尼苏达大学、康奈尔大学、洪都拉斯萨莫拉诺大学、哥斯达黎加瓜纳卡斯特保护区和墨西哥生态系统研究中心（CIEco-UNAM）的研究人员之间建立一个协作的跨学科网络。

Climate change will alter key aspects of the environment for plants, such as temperature and water availability. Very little is known about how plants will contend with these changes, particularly species that are difficult to study, such as long-lived tropical trees. This project examines short-term physiological responses and the potential for long-term evolutionary changes in response to experimental manipulations of precipitation in populations of a tropical oak species that occur in different climates in Central America. The project investigates the extent to which these populations are adapted to the climate they currently experience and their potential response to climates that are similar to those predicted for the future. New insights will be gained as to whether impacts of climate change at the seedling stage enhance or constrain adaptation at later life stages of the tree. In addition, the research will identify the physiological and genetic mechanisms that enhance or limit adaptation to altered climates in this tropical tree. The project fosters the education, mentoring, and training of undergraduates, doctoral students, and a postdoctoral associate in plant ecological physiology and quantitative genetics at the University of Minnesota and at the University of Zamorano (Honduras). This work offers unique training and mentoring opportunities for Latin American undergraduates and para-taxonomists in Honduras and Costa Rica. It will also develop a collaborative, interdisciplinary network between researchers at the University of Minnesota, Cornell University, the University of Zamorano in Honduras, the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste in Costa Rica, and the Center for Ecosystem Studies (CIEco-UNAM) in Mexico.