Ecotypic variation in Elymus elymoides productivity and drought resistance traits across the western United States

<p><strong>Introduction:</strong> Understanding local adaptation to climate is critical for managing ecosystems in the face of climate change. While there have been many provenance studies in trees, less is known about local adaptation in herbaceous species, including the perennial grasses that dominate arid and semiarid rangeland ecosystems.</p> <p><strong>Methods and Results:</strong> We used a common-garden study to quantify variation in growth and drought-resistance traits in 99 populations of <i>Elymus elymoides</i> from a broad geographic and climatic range in the western United States. Ecotypes from drier sites produced less biomass and smaller seeds, and had traits associated with greater drought resistance: small leaves with low osmotic potential and high integrated water use efficiency (δ¹³C). Seasonality also influenced plant traits. Plants from regions with relatively warm, wet summers had large seeds, large leaves, and low δ¹³C. Irrespective of climate, we also observed tradeoffs between biomass production and drought resistance traits.</p> <p><strong>Discussion:</strong> Together, these results suggest that much of the phenotypic variation among <i>E. elymoides</i> ecotypes represents local adaptation to differences in the amount and timing of water availability. In addition, ecotypes that grow rapidly may be less able to persist under dry conditions. Land managers may be able to use this variation to improve restoration success by seeding ecotypes with multiple drought resistance traits in areas with lower precipitation. The future success of this common rangeland species will likely depend on the use of tools such as seed transfer zones to match local variation in growth and drought resistance to predicted climatic conditions.</p>