Plasticity and Population-Level Differentiation in Desert Mosses across California Climate Gradients
Kanika Kolpe
Department of Biology
Faculty Supervisor: Jenna T.B. Ekwealor
Climate change affects nearly every aspect of life on Earth, including the growth and survival of plants. As extremophiles, some moss species in the genus Syntrichia are able to withstand climatic extremes in the deserts in which it lives, though questions remain about their ability to acclimate or adapt to future climates. To test the hypothesis that morphological and physiological differences among Syntrichia populations across climate gradients reflect phenotypic plasticity rather than genetically fixed differentiation, I will use a common garden approach with Syntrichia specimens sourced from California’s three deserts. Before and after the common garden, I will measure shoot height and awn length, pigment identification and quantification, desiccation tolerance, and CO2 gas exchange. The results that would suggest plasticity would be a different shoot and awn measurement, either the same pigments or less pigmentation, different pigment quantification, and a change in desiccation tolerance and CO2 gas exchange. The implications, beyond moss, for the potential of plasticity can be applied to plants as a whole. The results of this study could be utilized to combat the rapid decline of crops or other plants that humans consume.