Data from: Decoupled evolution of foliar freezing resistance, temperature-niche and morphological leaf traits in Chilean Myrceugenia

1. Phylogenetic conservatism of tolerance to freezing temperatures has
been cited to explain the tendency of plant lineages to grow in similar
climates. However there is little information about whether or not
freezing resistance is conserved across phylogenies, and whether
conservatism of physiological traits could explain conservatism of
realized climatic niches. Here we compared the phylogenetical lability of
realized climatic niche, foliar freezing resistance, and four
morphological leaf traits that are generally considered adaptations to
frost resistance in Chilean species of Myrceugenia, which grow in a wide
range of habitats. 2. We estimated the predicted niche occupancy profiles
with respect to minimum temperature (minT) of all species. We measured
foliar freezing resistance (using chlorophyll fluorescence), leaf size,
leaf mass per area (LMA), stomatal and trichome densities of ten
individuals per species. Finally, we estimated phylogenetic signal and we
performed independent contrast analyses among all variables. 3. We found
that both foliar freezing resistance and minT were subject to a
significant phylogenetic signal, but the former had a stronger signal. We
also detected a significant but weak correlation between them (r=0.49,
pone tail= 0.04). Morphological traits evolved independent of any
phylogenetic effect. Synthesis. Our results show that freezing resistance
evolved in association with temperature niche, but with some delay that
could result from phylogenetic inertia. Our results also show that
morphological leaf traits are more labile than realized climatic niche and
frost tolerance and the former probably evolved associated to microhabitat
preferences.