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 c...