ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Phenotypic Diversity and Variation of Lonicera
caerulea Populations in the Changbai Mountain
Alongside the Elevation Gradient
More details
Hide details
1
College of Forestry, Beihua University, Jilin 132013, China
2
Forestry Survey and Programme Institute of Jilin Province, Changchun 130000, China
Submission date: 2020-04-12
Final revision date: 2020-05-23
Acceptance date: 2020-05-25
Online publication date: 2020-09-07
Publication date: 2020-11-10
Corresponding author
Qichang Zhang
College of Forestry, Beihua University, Jilin province, China, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2021;30(1):705-716
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The shrub, leaf, and fruit traits of natural blue honeysuckle populations at different elevations were
measured to explore the key factors influencing phenotypic variation as well as the intra- and interpopulation
differences in phenotype. Thirteen phenotypic traits were measured at seven elevations
(600-1800 m) on Changbai Mountain, China. Analysis of variance indicated that the inter-population
variance accounted for 16.2261% of the total variation, whereas the intra-population variance
accounted for 14.1178%. Our findings indicated that the leaf and fruit characters varied between and
within populations, with the diversity between populations being greater than that within populations.
The range in the coefficient of variation (11.9419%-21.7084%) suggested that the phenotypic traits
varied to some extent at the species and population level and that these traits demonstrated adaptive
potential. The Shannon-Wiener index indicated that the phenotypic diversity of the populations
at the individual level was high. The inter-population correlation between phenotypic traits and
environmental factors showed that tree height, crown length diameter, crown length diameter/crown
short diameter, leaf thickness, leaf shape index, and fruit longitudinal diameter were plastic in response
to environmental change. We found that inter-population variation was the main source of phenotypic
variation, and the temperature changes associated with altitude primarily influenced the phenotypic
changes.