Evolutionary loss of thermal acclimation accompanied by periodic monocarpic mass flowering in Strobilanthes flexicaulis

Abstract While life history, physiology and molecular phylogeny in plants have been widely studied, understanding how changes with the evolution of history change remains largely unknown. In two closely related understory Strobilanthes plants, has previously shown that monocarpic 6-year masting S. flexicaulis evolved from a polycarpic perennial, represented by basal clade tashiroi . The exhibited seasonal thermal acclimation increased leaf respiratory photosynthetic metabolism winter, whereas showed no acclimation. required rapid height growth after germination under high intraspecific competition, respiration N allocation were biased toward nonphotosynthetic tissues. By contrast, long-lived , these allocations life-history differences between are “height growth” “assimilation” paradigms, respectively, which controlled different patterns nitrogen regulation leaves. obtained data indicate evolutionary loss may exhibit vulnerability to global warming.