Abstract
Background and Aims
Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) have been proven as significant driver of organisms to cope with environmental rapid changes. However, our understanding of key aspects of TGP is limited, especially its influencing factors and relationship to within-generation plasticity (WGP).
Methods
Firstly, we constructed different maternal and offspring environmental backgrounds for five populations of E. nutans through two years of common garden experiments and three years of reciprocal sowing experiments. Subsequently, we examined the influencing factors of TGP of leaf traits and its relationship to WGP.
Results
Maternal environment exerted influences on leaf traits of E. nutans for a minimum of three growing seasons. Progeny plant from low altitude maternal environment had larger and thicker leaves than those from high elevation maternal environment. Morphological traits exhibited higher TGP in high elevation progeny environment, while nutritional traits were higher in low elevation progeny environment. TGP diminished in the third growing season. Remarkably, no clear correlation was identified between TGP and WGP.
Conclusions
Our results revealed the dependence of TGP on trait type, progeny environment, population, and growing season and provided the first evidence that TGP are not correlated with WGP, reflecting the complexity of environmental conditions interactions experienced by the maternal and progeny generations. These findings underscore the importance of accounting for the maternal environment when assessing and utilizing E. nutans. It is advisable to opt for seed sources from environments with similar elevations for the cross regional using of seed sources in ecological restoration.