Pine trees pass on drought memories, but irrigation memories fade fast
Luo N, Gessler A, Noé F, Yakovlev IA, Weirich I, Kammerer B, Shimizu-Inatsugi R, Hunziker S, Lagies S, Pieber SM, Mohl D, Molteni U, Shimizu K, Bose AK.
Climate Adaptation
If you're planting pines for shade or a windbreak in a dry region, seed from trees that have survived drought may give seedlings a lasting edge, while seed from pampered, well-watered trees may not.
Scots pine trees that grew up in a dry Swiss valley passed something on to their seedlings that boosted photosynthesis and growth, and the boost stuck around after three years in ordinary conditions. Seedlings from regularly watered mothers lost their early growth advantage once the treatment stopped. So a tree's home environment can shape its offspring, but the effect fades and can backfire if the young tree lands somewhere different.
Key Findings
Offspring of drought-exposed mother trees showed consistently higher carbon assimilation and stem growth than offspring of irrigated mothers, regardless of the hot-drought or irrigation treatment applied.
After three years under non-experimental conditions, offspring of irrigated mothers no longer outgrew others under irrigation, indicating the irrigation-related memory weakened.
Gene expression differed in number and identity of differentially expressed genes between offspring groups, and primary metabolites showed modest differences in osmoprotectants and stress compounds; no DNA methylation, histone, or small RNA data were collected.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scots pine seedlings from drought-stressed mother trees kept growing better than those from irrigated mothers, even after a three-year break from treatment. The advantage from irrigated mothers faded, showing that a parent tree's environment can leave a memory in its offspring that fades and sometimes mismatches the conditions the young tree faces.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
When environments mismatch - The limits of transgenerational climate memory in Scots pine.
A long-term irrigation experiment in the dry Rhône Valley of Switzerland provides a unique opportunity to examine transgenerational environmental memory effects of persistent drought and irrigation...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Pinus sylvestris is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It is commonly known as the Scots pine in English; it is also known as the Scotch pine in the United States, and occasionally called the Baltic pine or European red pine. It can readily be identified by i...