East‒West genetic differentiation across the Indo-Burma hotspot: evidence from two closely related dioecious figs.

BACKGROUND: Understanding biodiversity patterns and their underlying mechanisms is of interest to ecologists, biogeographers and conservationists and is critically important for conservation efforts. The Indo-Burma hotspot features high species diversity and endemism, yet it also faces significant threats and biodiversity losses; however, few studies have explored the genetic structure and underlying mechanisms of Indo-Burmese species. Here, we conducted a comparative phylogeographic analysis of two closely related dioecious Ficus species, F. hispida and F. heterostyla, based on wide and intensive population sampling across Indo-Burma ranges, using chloroplast (psbA-trnH, trnS-trnG) and nuclear microsatellite (nSSR) markers, as well as ecological niche modeling. RESULTS: The results indicated large numbers of population-specific cpDNA haplotypes and nSSR alleles in the two species. F. hispida showed slightly higher chloroplast diversity but lower nuclear diversity than F. heterostyla. Low-altitude mountainous areas of northern Indo-Burma were revealed to have high genetic diversity and high habitat suitability, suggesting potential climate refugia and conservation priority areas. Strong phylogeographic structure and a marked east‒west differentiation pattern were observed in both species, due to the interactions between biotic and abiotic factors. Interspecific dissimilarities at fine-scale genetic structure and asynchronized historical dynamics of east‒west differentiation between species were also detected, which were attributed to different species-specific traits. CONCLUSIONS: We confirm hypothesized predictions that interactions between biotic and abiotic factors largely determine the patterns of genetic diversity and phylogeographic structure of Indo-Burmese plants. The east‒west genetic differentiation pattern observed in two targeted figs can be generalized to some other Indo-Burmese plants. The results and findings of this work will contribute to the conservation of Indo-Burmese biodiversity and facilitate targeted conservation efforts for different species.

Response of four evergreen savanna shrubs to an incidence of extreme drought: high embolism resistance, branch shedding and maintenance of nonstructural carbohydrates.

Extreme drought events are becoming frequent globally, resulting in widespread plant mortality and forest dieback. Although savanna vegetation cover ~20% of the earth's land area, their responses to extreme drought have been less studied than that of forests. Herein, we quantified branch dieback, individual mortality and the associated physiological responses of four evergreen shrubs (Tarenna depauperate Hutch., Maytenus esquirolii (H. Lév.) C.Y. Cheng, Murraya exotica L., Jasminum nudiflorum Lindl.) in a savanna ecosystem in Southwest China to an incidence of extreme drought during 2019 and 2020. We found that 80-100% of the individuals of these species exhibited branch dieback, whereas individual mortality was only found in T. depauperate (4.5%). All species showed high resistance to stem embolism (P50, water potential at 50% loss of hydraulic conductivity ranged from -5.62 to -8.6 MPa), whereas the stem minimum water potentials reached -7.6 to ca -10.0 MPa during the drought. The low water potential caused high native embolism levels (percentage loss of hydraulic conductivity (PLC) 23-65%) in terminal branches, and the remaining stems maintained 15-35% PLC at the end of the drought. Large within-individual variations in stem vulnerability to embolism were detected, and shedding of vulnerable branches could be a mechanism for shrubs to reduce water and carbon consumption. Overall, the content of total nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) and their components in the stem were generally comparable to or higher than those in the rainy season in three of the four species. Because the leaves were turgor-less for most time during the drought, high NSC levels during the drought could be due to recycling of NSC from dead branches or translocation from roots. Our results suggest high tolerance of savanna shrub species to extreme drought, which could be facilitated by high embolism resistance in some stems and shedding of vulnerable branches to maintain individual water and carbon balance.