Data from: Populations of aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) with different evolutionary histories differ in their climate occupancy

Quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides Michx.) are found in diverse habitats throughout North America. While the biogeography of aspens' distribution has been documented, the drivers of the phenotypic diversity of aspen are still being explored. In our study, we examined differences in climate between northern and southwestern populations of aspen, finding large-scale differences between the populations. Our results suggest that northern and southwestern populations live in distinct climates and support the inclusion of genetic and phenotypic data with species distribution modeling for predicting aspens' distribution.

颤杨（Populus tremuloides Michx.）广泛分布于北美各类生境中。尽管学界已对该物种的分布生物地理学特征开展了记载研究，但关于其表型多样性的形成驱动机制仍有待进一步探索。本研究针对颤杨北部种群与西南种群的气候差异展开分析，发现两类种群间存在显著的大尺度气候分化。研究结果表明，北部与西南种群的生存气候环境截然不同；同时本研究结果支持将遗传与表型数据纳入物种分布模型，以更精准地预测颤杨的潜在分布范围。