Differences in xylem and leaf hydraulic traits explain differences in drought tolerance among mature Amazon rainforest trees

Powell, Thomas L.; Wheeler, James K.; de Oliveira, Alex A.  R.; da Costa, Antonio Carlos Lola; Saleska, Scott R.; Meir, Patrick; Moorcroft, Paul R.

doi:10.1111/gcb.13731

Title: Differences in xylem and leaf hydraulic traits explain differences in drought tolerance among mature Amazon rainforest trees

Journal Article · Thu Apr 20 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Global Change Biology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13731· OSTI ID:1436163

^[1]; Wheeler, James K. ^[2]; de Oliveira, Alex A. R. ^[3]; da Costa, Antonio Carlos Lola ^[4]; Saleska, Scott R. ^[5]; Meir, Patrick ^[6]; Moorcroft, Paul R. ^[7]

Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth and Environmental Sciences Area
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States). Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Evolução, Belém Pará (Brazil)
Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém Pará (Brazil). Centro de Geociências
Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States). Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Australian National Univ., Canberra, ACT (Australia). Research School of Biology; Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom). School of GeoSciences
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

Abstract Considerable uncertainty surrounds the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on the composition and structure of Amazon forests. Building upon results from two large‐scale ecosystem drought experiments in the eastern Brazilian Amazon that observed increases in mortality rates among some tree species but not others, in this study we investigate the physiological traits underpinning these differential demographic responses. Xylem pressure at 50% conductivity (xylem‐P ₅₀ ), leaf turgor loss point ( TLP ), cellular osmotic potential (π _o ), and cellular bulk modulus of elasticity (ε), all traits mechanistically linked to drought tolerance, were measured on upper canopy branches and leaves of mature trees from selected species growing at the two drought experiment sites. Each species was placed a priori into one of four plant functional type ( PFT ) categories: drought‐tolerant versus drought‐intolerant based on observed mortality rates, and subdivided into early‐ versus late‐successional based on wood density. We tested the hypotheses that the measured traits would be significantly different between the four PFT s and that they would be spatially conserved across the two experimental sites. Xylem‐P ₅₀ , TLP , and π _o , but not ε, occurred at significantly higher water potentials for the drought‐intolerant PFT compared to the drought‐tolerant PFT ; however, there were no significant differences between the early‐ and late‐successional PFT s. These results suggest that these three traits are important for determining drought tolerance, and are largely independent of wood density—a trait commonly associated with successional status. Differences in these physiological traits that occurred between the drought‐tolerant and drought‐intolerant PFT s were conserved between the two research sites, even though they had different soil types and dry‐season lengths. This more detailed understanding of how xylem and leaf hydraulic traits vary between co‐occuring drought‐tolerant and drought‐intolerant tropical tree species promises to facilitate a much‐needed improvement in the representation of plant hydraulics within terrestrial ecosystem and biosphere models, which will enhance our ability to make robust predictions of how future changes in climate will affect tropical forests.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1436163

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1389139

Journal Information:: Global Change Biology, Vol. 23, Issue 10; ISSN 1354-1013

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 51 works

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