ClimBioMemo: Understanding cold acclimation as a key process affecting species survival under changing climate (2024-2025)
Nikita Rathore, Zuzana Münzbergová
Climate change will alter cold acclimation, a key process enabling plant winter survival in cold regions. This can consequently have adverse effects on plant population persistence. In this project, we aim to study: (1) How climate change (change in temperature and precipitation) affects plant’s ability to acclimate to cold and what is the relative importance of plasticity versus genetic differentiation in cold acclimation; (2) How plant associated soil microbiota and their interactions with climate affects plant cold acclimation; (3) How erratic cold-warm spells affect plant fitness and what is the role of microbiota in coping with such spells; (4) Do plants have transgenerational memory for cold acclimation and is this memory mediated by microbiota. Overall, this study will enhance our understanding of plant cold acclimation biology by providing novel insights into how this key process is affected by climate change, mediated by microbiota, and epigenetically regulated in different populations of a dominant European Alpine grassland species, Festuca rubra. Also, the findings will enhance understanding on the effect of projected erratic events (cold-warm spells) on plant fitness and if plant associated microbiota has role in maintaining plant fitness under such events.