Serious disconnection among researches on individual physiological
adaption, population genetic diversity and spatiotemporal demography has
obstructed us in the knowledge of plant population ecology. Here we
develop an approach to integrate those three research aspects by taking
advantage of recent knowledge about DNA methylation and multivariate
analysis. We show that by using various epigenetic parameters
corresponding to individual physiological metabolic reprogramming
potential, gene expression repression degree and physiological reaction
characteristics, the contribution of various biotic and abiotic factors
to an individual state and population structure can be quantified.
Furthermore, population dynamics can be narrowly estimated by analysing
DNA methylation of populations at different developmental stages. This
study demonstrates an approach for the overall analysis of plant
populations and exploring the spatiotemporal dynamics and developmental
mechanisms of a population using Castanopsis chinensis as the model
species.