Conserved thermal performance curves across the geographic range of a gametophytic fern

Species-level responses to environmental change depend on the collective responses of their constituent populations and the degree to which populations are specialized to local conditions. Manipulative experiments in common-garden settings make it possible to test for population variation in species’ responses to specific climate variables, including those projected to shift as the climate changes in the future. While this approach is being applied to a variety of plant taxa to evaluate their responses to climate change, these studies are heavily biased towards seed-bearing plant species. Given several unique morphological and physiological traits, fern species may exhibit very different responses from angiosperms and gymnosperms. Here, we tested the hypothesis that previously detected population differentiation in a fern species is due to differentiation in thermal performance curves among populations. We collected explants from six populations spanning the species’ geographic range and exposed them to 10 temperature treatments. Explant survival, lifespan and the change in photosynthetic area were analysed as a function of temperature, source population and their interaction. Overall results indicated that explants performed better at the lowest temperature examined, and the threshold for explant performance reflects maximum temperatures likely to be experienced in the field. Surprisingly, explant fitness did not differ among source populations, suggesting that temperature is not the driver behind previously detected patterns of population differentiation. These results highlight the importance of other environmental axes in driving population differentiation across a species range, and suggest that the perennial life history strategy, asexual mating system and limited dispersal potential of Vittaria appalachiana may restrict the rise and differentiation of adaptive genetic variation in thermal performance traits among populations.