Carolina Pometti obtained her Doctorate in Biology from the University of Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina) in 2009. She made her postdoc during one year in the same institution. In 2011, she was incorporated to the career of the scientific researcher in the CONICET. She is also a teacher assistant in the Ecology, Genetics and Evolution department of the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, since 2003. Her research activity is centered on genetic populations of woody species by means of molecular and morphological markers. Currently, she is studying evidences of local adaptation in phenotypic traits in natural populations with the aim of proposing new strategies of sampling for conservation, management and genetic improvement.

Local adaptation in morphological traits of Vachellia species (Fabaceae) across diverse environments in Argentina 

Different processes including global climatic change and anthropogenic activities, could affect plant species range and abundance since they tend to occupy new favourable areas or decline in increasingly hostile locations. Moreover, the interaction between a species and the environment generally varies across its range and the quantification of such variation in natural populations could reflect the strength of natural selection on phenotypic traits.Consequently, a wide range of species across various habitats can exhibit modifications in their morphological traits. Vachellia species are natural pioneers, they can tolerate extremely dry conditions, and they adapt well to eroded soils, playing an important role in soil conservation. Particularly, V. aroma and V. caven are two economically and ecological important species in South America and are being studied in this work. The purpose of this study was to identify signals of selection on phenotypic traits in natural populations of V. aroma and V. caven across diverse habitats in Argentina. The phenotypic traits were compared with molecular markers assessed in the same populations through the univariate PST-FST test. In both species, we detected signals of local adaptation for some traits and stabilizing selection for others. These findings indicate that choosing among provenances is a viable management strategy to enhance traits that exhibit local adaptation.

Co-authors: Pometti C., Bessega C., Saidman B., Vilardi J.