Hello everyone,
I recently had a conflict of ideas to use the best concepts for describe the local process of changes in plant traits within a study. In this study I measured different plants traits in a natural environment within two forest types at a time “X”. When I compare the plant traits by type of forest at this time "X", I find that there is a variation according to the type of forest. However what is the best concept (word) to describe this variation: phenotypic plasticity, acclimation, acclimatization or adaptation?
Many of these concepts can be linked into this process of local variation, but what is the best concepts to describe this variation?, why?
It basically depends on what is causing this variation. When you say different forest types, what do you mean exactly? Are there differences in soil and climate conditions? I think that phenotipic plasticity could be a good concept once you have almost the same species ocurring at both forest types, although the definition of a forest type can include a specific set of species ocurring there. I would not recommend using adaptation, because I believe that it includes an evolutionary background on life history of the plants that unless you are considering at least phylogenetic analysis you can not say anything on it.
Massimo Pigliucci, Evolution of phenotypic plasticity: where are we going now?, Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Volume 20, Issue 9, September 2005, Pages 481-486, ISSN 0169-5347, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2005.06.001.
Phenotypic evolution: a reaction norm perspective. Schlichting, C. D.; Pigliucci, M.
Book. evolution: a reaction norm perspective. 1998 pp. xii + 387 pp.
When I say different forest types, I refer to different states of succession.I'm not studying the phylogenetic
You talk about 'type' of forest, but do you really mean different successional stages? That is, you are using the different locations as representing different times? If so, then non of the terms you mention really describe the changes in plant traits with successional stage. It is simply succession.
I think the good description to your data is phenotypic variation in plant traits or intraspecific variation if, you are evaluating a single species among different forests types. Ecotypic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity are the underlying mechanism that determines variation at phenotypic level (Albert CH et al. 2011; Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics) and, only can be determined thru common garden experiment.
I think that phenotypic plasticity is not the.correct term since it depends on the same individual or genotype preseting changes in different environmental conditions. I agree with Danny Carvajal when he suggests that the best word to describe your case would be phenotypic variaton.
Would suggest a further character in resilience or ability to keep an equilibrium after disturbance. Any frequency variation in the population can be dscribed as lack of resiliebce or weak resilience. Grubb & Hopkins in http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-009-4822-8_3#page-1
What's in a name? A reference to a recent, peer-reviewed source for your terminology is fine. When your findings make you deviate from the current consensus on a technical term, you may (re-) define explicitly.
Attached a paper illustrating in Figure 8 the variation in leaf shape and surface area of a herb from a catena from forest over forest edge to grassland within a rather small area. Without genetic analysis we could not make any evidence-based statement on genotype versus phenotype, although the latter seems plausible.Other plant traits of the same herb at the same site show significant variation related to the environment over the same gradient: stem height and stem polycormy.
Article Site conditions and morphometry of Geranium sanguineum on th...
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