Dry and hot: the hydraulic consequences of a climate change–type drought for Amazonian trees

Fontes, Clarissa G.; Dawson, Todd E.; Jardine, Kolby; McDowell, Nate; Gimenez, Bruno O.; Anderegg, Leander; Negrón-Juárez, Robinson; Higuchi, Niro; Fine, Paul V.  A.; Araújo, Alessandro C.; Chambers, Jeffrey Q.

doi:10.1098/rstb.2018.0209

Dry and hot: the hydraulic consequences of a climate change–type drought for Amazonian trees

Journal Article · Mon Oct 08 04:00:00 EDT 2018 · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0209· OSTI ID:1479448

^[1]; Dawson, Todd E. ^[2]; ^[3]; McDowell, Nate ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[1]; ^[6]; Higuchi, Niro ^[5]; Fine, Paul V. A. ^[1]; Araújo, Alessandro C. ^[7]; Chambers, Jeffrey Q. ^[8]

Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Integrative Biology
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Integrative Biology, and Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and Ecosystem Science Division
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Climate Science Dept., Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division; Ciencias de Florestas Tropicais, Inst. Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (INPA), Manaus, AM (Brazil)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Ciencias de Florestas Tropicais, Inst. Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (INPA), Manaus, AM (Brazil)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Climate Science Dept., Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division
Carnegie Inst. of Science, Stanford, CA (United States). Dept. of Global Ecology
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Climate Science Dept., Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Geography

How plants respond physiologically to leaf warming and low water availability may determine how they will perform under future climate change. In 2015-2016, an unprecedented drought occurred across Amazonia with record-breaking high temperatures and low soil moisture, offering a unique opportunity to evaluate the performances of Amazonian trees to a severe climatic event. We quantified the responses of leaf water potential, sap velocity, whole-tree hydraulic conductance (Kwt), turgor loss and xylem embolism, during and after the 2015-2016 El Niño for five canopy-tree species. Leaf/xylem safety margins (SMs), sap velocity and Kwt showed a sharp drop during warm periods. SMs were negatively correlated with vapour pressure deficit, but had no significant relationship with soil water storage. Based on our calculations of canopy stomatal and xylem resistances, the decrease in sap velocity and Kwt was due to a combination of xylem cavitation and stomatal closure. Our results suggest that warm droughts greatly amplify the degree of trees' physiological stress and can lead to mortality. Given the extreme nature of the 2015-2016 El Niño and that temperatures are predicted to increase, this work can serve as a case study of the possible impact climate warming can have on tropical trees. Lastly, this article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications'.

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

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)

DOE Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1479448

Journal Information:: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences, Journal Name: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences Journal Issue: 1760 Vol. 373; ISSN 0962-8436

Publisher:: The Royal Society Publishing

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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