Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biology
Department
Biology
First Reader/Committee Chair
Lopez Perez, Lua
Abstract
The consequences of climate change and anthropogenic activity have decreased wildlife biodiversity. Plants are particularly vulnerable to climate change due to their large biomass on the planet and sessile nature. A particularly useful method for plants to cope with environmental changes is phenotypic plasticity. Adjusting morphological traits through plasticity can help plants cope with environmental changes. Furthermore, plastic responses can be passed down through methods such as changes in DNA sequence or epigenetic modifications.
Our research project focuses on an herb, Iberodes littoralis, a species of concern native to the Siberian Peninsula with approximately thirteen extant populations. The data that we analyzed was collected by researchers of Universidade de Coruna. We looked at morphological and physiological data of individuals from four genetically distinct and isolated populations to determine 1) Can parent environment influence the response of the F1 generation to its own environment? 2) Does environment have an influence on the phenotype of the F1 generation? and 3) Does population influence the phenotype variation and response of the F1 individuals? Based on these questions, we hypothesized that 1) Parents placed in harsh environmental conditions (drought) will give the F1 generation a phenotypic advantage (increased biomass) compared to offspring whose parents were in normal conditions. 2) Individuals placed in stressful drought conditions (regardless of parent condition) will display decrease biomass and more stress compared to individuals in natural conditions. And 3) individuals from different populations will have different phenotypes and will respond differently to the two conditions.
We analyzed four morphological traits (flower mass, root mass, shoot mass and shoot/root ratio) and four physiological indices (Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI), Chlorophyll Content (CHL), Water Index (WI), and Yield) using ANOVA Type III Sums of Square on R Studio and generated reaction plots and bar graphs in Excel to visualize the data.
Our results suggest that parent environment does not have an influence on F1 response to its own environment. The biggest determinant of phenotypic plasticity was the environment that F1 individuals were placed in. However, contrary to what we expected, individuals placed in the drought condition had increased biomass in all four morphological traits compared to individuals placed in natural conditions. Physiological indices were predominantly non-significant. Furthermore, as we hypothesized, population had a significant influence on F1 phenotype and response in certain morphological traits but not others.
Although our research suggests that Iberodes littoralis is adjusting to the warming climate, transcriptomic analysis is needed to determine changes in gene expression in stress-related response genes for a more thorough understanding of the molecular basis for the environmentally induced plasticity changes of Iberodes littoralis.
Recommended Citation
Fernandez Silva, Mariangel M., "Assessing Phenotypic Variation Across Generations of Iberodes littoralis Under Climate Change" (2025). Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations. 2148.
https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd/2148