Influence of water limitation and provenance on reproductive traits in a common garden of Frangula alnus

Files
zenodofalnusmotherplants.xlsx: data from mother plants from which berries were picked in 2020
zenodofalnusberrystone.xlsx: details on the berries and stones
Abstract of related paper
Drought periods during the growing season will increase and intensify in Western Europe due to climate change. To better understand the consequences for woody perennials, we restricted watering of potted cuttings of Frangula alnus Mill. in a common garden setting in Belgium during the growing season of 2020. We focused on the responses of three provenances (Belgian, Italian and Swedish) for several reproductive traits in the year of the water limitation. F. alnus can blossom on current season's growth and can therefore produce ripened berries continuously during several months.
The total berry count over the whole growing season was much lower in the water-limited plants, independent of the provenance. The Belgian provenance produced more ripened berries in total than the Italian and Swedish provenances, both in the water-limited as in the control plants. Maximum berry production occurred in July. The control plants from the Belgian and Italian provenances displayed a second lower maximum in August. Mainly the Swedish provenance displayed a clear advancement of the maximum berry production among the water limited plants in comparison to the control plants.
differences were detected in the average stone count per berry and in the average stone weight over time, with both traits displaying a single maximum. The Swedish provenance displayed the highest average stone count per berry and the Belgian provenance had the lightest average stone weight, both likely attributable to local adaptation. Remarkably, both stone traits were not affected by the water limitation.
Results are discussed in the face of several drought response mechanisms including drought escape, drought avoidance, compensation growth, growth/reproduction trade-off and seed size/weight trade-off.

Data was measured in a common garden of potted plants of the shrub Frangula alnus, consisting of three provenances: Belgian, Swedish and Italian. Part of the common garden plants was water limited in the growing season of 2020. Focus was given to reproductive traits in this year: the number of mature berries that were produced on each plant during the whole growing season. Stones were taken from the berries, dried and weighted. Apart from the reproductive traits, also height and diameter of the plants were recorded, together with leaf phenological traits (bud burst and leaf senescence).