资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Understanding how phenotypic traits vary among populations inhabiting different environments is critical for predicting a species鈥?vulnerability to climate change. Yet, little is known about the key functional traits that determine the distribution of populations and the main mechanisms鈥攑henotypic plasticity vs. local adaptation鈥攗nderlying intraspecific functional trait variation. Using the Asian burying beetle Nicrophorus nepalensis, we demonstrate that mountain ranges differing in elevation and latitude offer unique thermal environments in which two functional traits鈥攖hermal tolerance and reproductive photoperiodism鈥攊nteract to shape breeding phenology. We show that populations on different mountain ranges maintain similar thermal tolerances, but differ in reproductive photoperiodism. Through common garden and reciprocal transplant experiments, we confirm that reproductive photoperiodism is locally adapted and not phenotypically plastic. Accordingly, year-round breeding populations on mountains of intermediate elevation are likely to be most susceptible to future warming because maladaptation occurs when beetles try to breed at warmer temperatures.