Leaf habit affects the distribution of drought sensitivity but not water transport efficiency in the tropics

German Vargas G.; Norbert Kunert; William M. Hammond; Z. Carter Berry; Leland K. Werden; Chris M. Smith-Martin; Brett T. Wolfe; Laura Toro; Ariadna Mondragón-Botero; Jesús N. Pinto-Ledezma; Naomi B. Schwartz; María Uriarte; Lawren Sack; Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira; Jennifer S. Powers

doi:10.1111/ele.14128

Leaf habit affects the distribution of drought sensitivity but not water transport efficiency in the tropics

German Vargas G., Norbert Kunert, William M. Hammond, Z. Carter Berry, Leland K. Werden, Chris M. Smith-Martin, Brett T. Wolfe, Laura Toro, Ariadna Mondragón-Botero, Jesús N. Pinto-Ledezma, Naomi B. Schwartz, María Uriarte, Lawren Sack, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira, Jennifer S. Powers

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Considering the global intensification of aridity in tropical biomes due to climate change, we need to understand what shapes the distribution of drought sensitivity in tropical plants. We conducted a pantropical data synthesis representing 1117 species to test whether xylem-specific hydraulic conductivity (K_S), water potential at leaf turgor loss (Ψ_TLP) and water potential at 50% loss of K_S (Ψ_P50) varied along climate gradients. The Ψ_TLP and Ψ_P50 increased with climatic moisture only for evergreen species, but K_S did not. Species with high Ψ_TLP and Ψ_P50 values were associated with both dry and wet environments. However, drought-deciduous species showed high Ψ_TLP and Ψ_P50 values regardless of water availability, whereas evergreen species only in wet environments. All three traits showed a weak phylogenetic signal and a short half-life. These results suggest strong environmental controls on trait variance, which in turn is modulated by leaf habit along climatic moisture gradients in the tropics.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2637-2650
Number of pages	14
Journal	Ecology letters
Volume	25
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14128
State	Published - Dec 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to all the scientists, and field technicians who collected data on plant hydraulics in tropical regions. The authors are also thankful to the scientists and database managers who organised, and assembled the databases used in this manuscript: BIEN (https://bien.nceas.ucsb.edu/bien/), CHIRPS (https://www.chc.ucsb.edu/data/chirps), CGIAR-PET (https://cgiarcsi.community/data/global-aridity-and-pet-database/) and the xylem functional trait database (https://xylemfunctionaltraits.org/). We thank Professor Jeanine Cavender-Bares, Dr. Xue Feng, Dr. Daniel Stanton and the students in the Plant Physiology reading group in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota for discussing the preliminary results. This work was supported by two fellowships assigned to GVG for pursuing graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship by the Graduate School and the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change Scholar Fellowship. CMSM was supported by NSF award DEB- 1753810 to MU, and JSP was supported by the Department of Energy Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program grant DE-SC0020344.

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to all the scientists, and field technicians who collected data on plant hydraulics in tropical regions. The authors are also thankful to the scientists and database managers who organised, and assembled the databases used in this manuscript: BIEN ( https://bien.nceas.ucsb.edu/bien/ ), CHIRPS ( https://www.chc.ucsb.edu/data/chirps ), CGIAR‐PET ( https://cgiarcsi.community/data/global‐aridity‐and‐pet‐database/ ) and the xylem functional trait database ( https://xylemfunctionaltraits.org/ ). We thank Professor Jeanine Cavender‐Bares, Dr. Xue Feng, Dr. Daniel Stanton and the students in the Plant Physiology reading group in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota for discussing the preliminary results. This work was supported by two fellowships assigned to GVG for pursuing graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship by the Graduate School and the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change Scholar Fellowship. CMSM was supported by NSF award DEB‐ 1753810 to MU, and JSP was supported by the Department of Energy Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program grant DE‐SC0020344.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

aridity
pantropical
rainfall seasonality
turgor loss point
xylem hydraulic conductivity
xylem vulnerability to embolism

PubMed: MeSH publication types

Letter

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Vargas G., G., Kunert, N., Hammond, W. M., Berry, Z. C., Werden, L. K., Smith-Martin, C. M., Wolfe, B. T., Toro, L., Mondragón-Botero, A., Pinto-Ledezma, J. N., Schwartz, N. B., Uriarte, M., Sack, L., Anderson-Teixeira, K. J., & Powers, J. S. (2022). Leaf habit affects the distribution of drought sensitivity but not water transport efficiency in the tropics. Ecology letters, 25(12), 2637-2650. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14128

Vargas G., G, Kunert, N, Hammond, WM, Berry, ZC, Werden, LK, Smith-Martin, CM, Wolfe, BT, Toro, L, Mondragón-Botero, A, Pinto-Ledezma, JN, Schwartz, NB, Uriarte, M, Sack, L, Anderson-Teixeira, KJ & Powers, JS 2022, 'Leaf habit affects the distribution of drought sensitivity but not water transport efficiency in the tropics', Ecology letters, vol. 25, no. 12, pp. 2637-2650. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14128

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abstract = "Considering the global intensification of aridity in tropical biomes due to climate change, we need to understand what shapes the distribution of drought sensitivity in tropical plants. We conducted a pantropical data synthesis representing 1117 species to test whether xylem-specific hydraulic conductivity (KS), water potential at leaf turgor loss (ΨTLP) and water potential at 50% loss of KS (ΨP50) varied along climate gradients. The ΨTLP and ΨP50 increased with climatic moisture only for evergreen species, but KS did not. Species with high ΨTLP and ΨP50 values were associated with both dry and wet environments. However, drought-deciduous species showed high ΨTLP and ΨP50 values regardless of water availability, whereas evergreen species only in wet environments. All three traits showed a weak phylogenetic signal and a short half-life. These results suggest strong environmental controls on trait variance, which in turn is modulated by leaf habit along climatic moisture gradients in the tropics.",

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note = "Funding Information: The authors are grateful to all the scientists, and field technicians who collected data on plant hydraulics in tropical regions. The authors are also thankful to the scientists and database managers who organised, and assembled the databases used in this manuscript: BIEN (https://bien.nceas.ucsb.edu/bien/), CHIRPS (https://www.chc.ucsb.edu/data/chirps), CGIAR-PET (https://cgiarcsi.community/data/global-aridity-and-pet-database/) and the xylem functional trait database (https://xylemfunctionaltraits.org/). We thank Professor Jeanine Cavender-Bares, Dr. Xue Feng, Dr. Daniel Stanton and the students in the Plant Physiology reading group in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota for discussing the preliminary results. This work was supported by two fellowships assigned to GVG for pursuing graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship by the Graduate School and the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change Scholar Fellowship. CMSM was supported by NSF award DEB- 1753810 to MU, and JSP was supported by the Department of Energy Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program grant DE-SC0020344. Funding Information: The authors are grateful to all the scientists, and field technicians who collected data on plant hydraulics in tropical regions. The authors are also thankful to the scientists and database managers who organised, and assembled the databases used in this manuscript: BIEN ( https://bien.nceas.ucsb.edu/bien/ ), CHIRPS ( https://www.chc.ucsb.edu/data/chirps ), CGIAR‐PET ( https://cgiarcsi.community/data/global‐aridity‐and‐pet‐database/ ) and the xylem functional trait database ( https://xylemfunctionaltraits.org/ ). We thank Professor Jeanine Cavender‐Bares, Dr. Xue Feng, Dr. Daniel Stanton and the students in the Plant Physiology reading group in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota for discussing the preliminary results. This work was supported by two fellowships assigned to GVG for pursuing graduate studies at the University of Minnesota, the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship by the Graduate School and the Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change Scholar Fellowship. CMSM was supported by NSF award DEB‐ 1753810 to MU, and JSP was supported by the Department of Energy Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Program grant DE‐SC0020344. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.",

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N2 - Considering the global intensification of aridity in tropical biomes due to climate change, we need to understand what shapes the distribution of drought sensitivity in tropical plants. We conducted a pantropical data synthesis representing 1117 species to test whether xylem-specific hydraulic conductivity (KS), water potential at leaf turgor loss (ΨTLP) and water potential at 50% loss of KS (ΨP50) varied along climate gradients. The ΨTLP and ΨP50 increased with climatic moisture only for evergreen species, but KS did not. Species with high ΨTLP and ΨP50 values were associated with both dry and wet environments. However, drought-deciduous species showed high ΨTLP and ΨP50 values regardless of water availability, whereas evergreen species only in wet environments. All three traits showed a weak phylogenetic signal and a short half-life. These results suggest strong environmental controls on trait variance, which in turn is modulated by leaf habit along climatic moisture gradients in the tropics.

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KW - pantropical

KW - rainfall seasonality

KW - turgor loss point

KW - xylem hydraulic conductivity

KW - xylem vulnerability to embolism

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Leaf habit affects the distribution of drought sensitivity but not water transport efficiency in the tropics

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

PubMed: MeSH publication types

UN SDGs

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