Local Adaptation and climate change
Plants must adapt (via evolution) or migrate in response to climate change or they will go extinct. We are studying the boreal forest tree, Populus balsamifera, to predict it's ability to adapt to changing climates. In collaboration withe colleagues at Canada's AAFC, we have planted a common garden in Fairbanks Alaska composed of over 450 genotypes collected from throughout the boreal forest. We have used these trees in several population genomics studies to identify genes with a history of selection and to identify candidate alleles for controlling genetic variation in the timing of dormancy in this species. We are continuing to mine this experiment to identify factors important for local adaptation and to address how climate influenced bud break and bud set, the two traits most important for controlling the timing of growth and total aboveground biomass production.
Representative publications:
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Menon, M., W. J. Barnes, and M. S. Olson. 2015. Population genetics of freeze tolerance among natural populations of Populus balsamiferaL. across the growing season. New Phytologist 207: 710-722.
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Bálint, M., Bartha, L., O'Hara, R.B., Olson, M.S., Otte, J., Pfenninger, M., Robertson, A.L., Tiffin, P. & Schmitt, I. 2015. Relocation, high‐latitude warming and host genetic identity shape the foliar fungal microbiome of poplars. Molecular ecology24:235-248.
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Olson, M.S., N. Levsen, R. Soolanayakanahally, R. Guy, W Schroeder, S. Keller, and P. Tiffin. 2013. The adaptive potentialof Populus balsamiferaL. to phenology requirements in a warmer global climate. Molecular Ecology. 22: 1214-1230.
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Keller, S.R., N. Levsen, M.S. Olson, and P. Tiffin. 2012. Local adaptation in the flowering time gene network of balsam poplar, Populus balsamifera L. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 29:3143-3152.
