2025/07/01 by David Gutiérrez‐Larruscain, Pablo Vargas, Juli G. Pausas · 1 voice · 3 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · #Aridification #Biology #Biome #Climate change #Ecology #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Ecosystem #Fire regime #Genetic diversity and population structure #Geography #Juniper #Mediterranean climate #Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics #Regime shift #Sclerophyll #Trait
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/ele.70169
published in Ecology Letters 28(7), e70169 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2025/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The onset of the Mediterranean climate, with its characteristic seasonal droughts and increased fire activity, marked a significant shift in the evolution of Mediterranean flora. One trait to adapt to this fire regime shift is the ability to resprout from a lignotuber. We used genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) data to estimate the origin of lignotuber resprouting in the Iberian Juniperus oxycedrus complex and the period when fires-and the Mediterranean seasonality-became sufficiently frequent and stable to favour such plant adaptations. We then infer the demographic consequences of possessing this trait. Results indicate that resprouting and non-resprouting lineages diverged around 6.23 Ma, aligning with key aridification events (e.g., the Messinian Salinity Crisis) followed by the establishment of the Mediterranean climate. We propose that fire-adaptive traits, such as lignotuber resprouting, can serve as proxies to estimate fire regime shifts; by doing so, we provide new insights into the assembly of the Mediterranean biome.