caa a22 4500 60619360X CHVBK 20210128100910.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10682-015-9782-7 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10682-015-9782-7 Climate and leaf shape relationships in four Helichrysum species from the Eastern Mountain Region of South Africa [Elektronische Daten] [Kelsey Glennon, Glynis Cron] Morphological variation in plants can be affected by climate, which influences how species are identified as well as hypotheses of species divergence. We tested whether climatic niches were correlated with the observed morphological (leaf) variation of four geographically overlapping and reproductively similar Helichrysum species (Hilliard's Group 4 in the southern African flora). We found that two species, H. gymnocomum and H. odoratissimum, showed clear evidence for climatic niche conservatism and that across all species leaf shape was not significantly correlated with climatic niche. Interestingly, there did appear to be a pattern, albeit statistically non-significant, that linked cold, dry climates to leaf shape, particularly for the variable and widespread H. odoratissimum. For example, smaller, narrower leaf shapes were generally found in cooler, drier regions, while large, broad leaves (particularly those of H. odoratissimum) are found in warmer, more humid regions. In addition, the data also showed that two species, H. odoratissimum and H. gymnocomum, comprised a single variable group. The climate-leaf shape patterns could potentially reflect the morphological variation between these two species. Collectively, these findings suggest further work is necessary to determine the role of climate and leaf shape variation in species divergence in the Eastern Mountain Region. Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2015 Climatic niche nationallicence Drakensberg nationallicence Geometric morphometrics nationallicence Niche conservatism nationallicence Glennon Kelsey School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa aut Cron Glynis School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa aut Evolutionary Ecology Springer International Publishing 29/5(2015-09-01), 657-678 0269-7653 29:5<657 2015 29 10682 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-015-9782-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-015-9782-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Glennon Kelsey School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Cron Glynis School of Animal, Plant, and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Evolutionary Ecology Springer International Publishing 29/5(2015-09-01), 657-678 0269-7653 29:5<657 2015 29 10682