How might edaphic specialists in gypsum islands respond to climate change? Reciprocal sowing experiment to infer local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity

Abstract

The lack of local adaptation to drought displayed at the regeneration stage indicates limited capacity for in situ genetic response to new climate scenarios. Nevertheless, a plastic response along the climatic gradient does suggest a wider species-level capacity to enable these edaphic specialists to cope with increasing aridity over coming decades.