Leaf turgor loss point shapes local and regional distributions of evergreen but not deciduous tropical trees

Kunert, Norbert; Zailaa, Joseph; Herrmann, Valentine; Muller‐Landau, Helene C.; Wright, S. Joseph; Pérez, Rolando; McMahon, Sean M.; Condit, Richard C.; Hubbell, Steven P.; Sack, Lawren; Davies, Stuart J.; Anderson‐Teixeira, Kristina J.

doi:10.1111/nph.17187

Leaf turgor loss point shapes local and regional distributions of evergreen but not deciduous tropical trees

Journal Article · Wed Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2021 · New Phytologist

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17187· OSTI ID:1765387

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[4]; Pérez, Rolando ^[4]; ^[5]; Condit, Richard C. ^[4]; Hubbell, Steven P. ^[4]; ^[2]; ^[6]; ^[7]

Conservation Ecology Center Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Front Royal VA 22630 USA, Forest Global Earth Observatory Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Panama Republic of Panama, Department of Integrative Biology and Biodiversity Research Institute of Botany University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Gregor‐Mendel Str. 33 Vienna A‐1190 Austria
Department of Ecology and Evolution University of California Los Angeles 621 Charles E. Young Drive South Los Angeles CA 90095 USA
Conservation Ecology Center Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Front Royal VA 22630 USA
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute PO Box 084303092 Balboa, Ancón Republic of Panama
Forest Global Earth Observatory Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Panama Republic of Panama, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Edgewater MD 21307 USA
Forest Global Earth Observatory Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute PO Box 37012 Washington DC 20013 USA
Conservation Ecology Center Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Front Royal VA 22630 USA, Forest Global Earth Observatory Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Panama Republic of Panama

Summary

The effects of climate change on tropical forests will depend on how diverse tropical tree species respond to drought. Current distributions of evergreen and deciduous tree species across local and regional moisture gradients reflect their ability to tolerate drought stress, and might be explained by functional traits.

We measured leaf water potential at turgor loss (i.e. ‘wilting point’; π _tlp ), wood density (WD) and leaf mass per area (LMA) on 50 of the most abundant tree species in central Panama. We then tested their ability to explain distributions of evergreen and deciduous species within a 50 ha plot on Barro Colorado Island and across a 70 km rainfall gradient spanning the Isthmus of Panama.

Among evergreen trees, species with lower π _tlp were associated with drier habitats, with π _tlp explaining 28% and 32% of habitat association on local and regional scales, respectively, greatly exceeding the predictive power of WD and LMA. In contrast, π _tlp did not predict habitat associations among deciduous species.

Across spatial scales, π _tlp is a useful indicator of habitat preference for tropical tree species that retain their leaves during periods of water stress, and holds the potential to predict vegetation responses to climate change.

View Journal Article

Research Organization:: Next Generation Ecosystem Experiments-Tropics (Puerto Rico) (Brazil) (Malaysia) (Australia) (French Guiana)

Sponsoring Organization:: Smithsonian Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

OSTI ID:: 1765387

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1817041
OSTI ID: 1778429

Journal Information:: New Phytologist, Journal Name: New Phytologist Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 230; ISSN 0028-646X

Publisher:: Wiley-BlackwellCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

References (72)

Drought-induced mortality patterns and rapid biomass recovery in a terra firme forest in the Colombian Amazon Zuleta, Daniel; Duque, Alvaro; Cardenas, Dairon Ecology, Vol. 98, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1950	journal	August 2017
Contrasting outcomes of species- and community-level analyses of the temporal consistency of functional composition Katabuchi, Masatoshi; Wright, S. Joseph; Swenson, Nathan G. Ecology, Vol. 98, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1952	journal	September 2017
Disentangling the functional trait correlates of spatial aggregation in tropical forest trees McFadden, Ian R.; Bartlett, Megan K.; Wiegand, Thorsten Ecology, Vol. 100, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2591	journal	February 2019
Tropical Forest Census Plots Condit, Richard https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03664-8	book	January 1998
Flooding and drought tolerance in seeds and seedlings of two Mora species segregated along a soil hydrological gradient in the tropical rain forest of Guyana ter Steege, Hans Oecologia, Vol. 100, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317856	journal	December 1994
Climate Change and Drought: a Precipitation and Evaporation Perspective Dai, Aiguo; Zhao, Tianbao; Chen, Jiao Current Climate Change Reports, Vol. 4, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-018-0101-6	journal	May 2018
Seasonal dynamics of tree sap flux and water use in nine species in Panamanian forest plantations Kunert, Norbert; Schwendenmann, Luitgard; Hölscher, Dirk Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 150, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2010.01.006	journal	March 2010
Drought sensitivity shapes species distribution patterns in tropical forests Engelbrecht, Bettina M. J.; Comita, Liza S.; Condit, Richard Nature, Vol. 447, Issue 7140 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05747	journal	May 2007
Larger trees suffer most during drought in forests worldwide Bennett, Amy C.; McDowell, Nathan G.; Allen, Craig D. Nature Plants, Vol. 1, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2015.139	journal	September 2015
Dry season soil water potential maps of a 50 hectare tropical forest plot on Barro Colorado Island, Panama Kupers, Stefan J.; Wirth, Christian; Engelbrecht, Bettina M. J. Scientific Data, Vol. 6, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0072-z	journal	May 2019
Hydraulic conductance of two co-occuring neotropical understory shrubs with different habitat preferences Engelbrecht, Bettina M. J.; Velez, Virginia; Tyree, Melvin T. Annals of Forest Science, Vol. 57, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1051/forest:2000111	journal	March 2000
Species distributions in response to individual soil nutrients and seasonal drought across a community of tropical trees Condit, R.; Engelbrecht, B. M. J.; Pino, D. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218042110	journal	February 2013
The correlations and sequence of plant stomatal, hydraulic, and wilting responses to drought Bartlett, Megan K.; Klein, Tamir; Jansen, Steven Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 113, Issue 46 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1604088113	journal	November 2016
Hydrologic regulation of plant rooting depth Fan, Ying; Miguez-Macho, Gonzalo; Jobbágy, Esteban G. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 114, Issue 40 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712381114	journal	September 2017
A reassessment of the strategies of plants which cope with shortages of resources Grubb, Peter J. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, Vol. 1, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1078/1433-8319-00049	journal	January 1998
Hydraulic traits of Neotropical canopy liana and tree species across a broad range of wood density: implications for predicting drought mortality with models De Guzman, Mark E.; Acosta-Rangel, Aleyda; Winter, Klaus Tree Physiology, Vol. 41, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpaa106	journal	August 2020
Effect of flooding on C metabolism of flood-tolerant (Quercus robur) and non-tolerant (Fagus sylvatica) tree species Ferner, E.; Rennenberg, H.; Kreuzwieser, J. Tree Physiology, Vol. 32, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tps009	journal	February 2012
Leaf turgor loss point is correlated with drought tolerance and leaf carbon economics traits Zhu, Shi-Dan; Chen, Ya-Jun; Ye, Qing Tree Physiology, Vol. 38, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpy013	journal	February 2018
The potential of Mid-Infrared spectroscopy for prediction of wood density and vulnerability to embolism in woody angiosperms Savi, Tadeja; Tintner, Johannes; Da Sois, Luca Tree Physiology, Vol. 39, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpy112	journal	October 2018
Drought response strategies and hydraulic traits contribute to mechanistic understanding of plant dry-down to hydraulic failure Blackman, Chris J.; Creek, Danielle; Maier, Chelsea Tree Physiology, Vol. 39, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpz016	journal	March 2019
Desiccation Tolerance of Five Tropical Seedlings in Panama. Relationship to a Field Assessment of Drought Performance Tyree, Melvin T.; Engelbrecht, Bettina M. J.; Vargas, Gustavo Plant Physiology, Vol. 132, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.102.018937	journal	May 2003
Soil Moisture at Permanent Wilting of Plants Veihmeyer, F. J.; Hendrickson, A. H. Plant Physiology, Vol. 3, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.3.3.355	journal	July 1928
Stomatal Behavior and Water Relations of Waterlogged Tomato Plants Bradford, Kent J.; Hsiao, Theodore C. Plant Physiology, Vol. 70, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.70.5.1508	journal	November 1982
Leaf hydraulic capacity and drought vulnerability: possible trade-offs and correlations with climate across three major biomes Nardini, Andrea; Luglio, Jessica Functional Ecology, Vol. 28, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12246	journal	February 2014
An extensive suite of functional traits distinguishes Hawaiian wet and dry forests and enables prediction of species vital rates Medeiros, Camila D.; Scoffoni, Christine; John, Grace P. Functional Ecology, Vol. 33, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13229	journal	December 2018
Shifts in taxonomic and functional composition of trees along rainfall and phosphorus gradients in central Panama Umaña, María Natalia; Condit, Richard; Pérez, Rolando Journal of Ecology, Vol. 109, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13442	journal	July 2020
Temperature and rainfall interact to control carbon cycling in tropical forests Taylor, Philip G.; Cleveland, Cory C.; Wieder, William R. Ecology Letters, Vol. 20, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12765	journal	April 2017
Improved allometric models to estimate the aboveground biomass of tropical trees Chave, Jérôme; Réjou-Méchain, Maxime; Búrquez, Alberto Global Change Biology, Vol. 20, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12629	journal	June 2014
CTFS-ForestGEO: a worldwide network monitoring forests in an era of global change Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina J.; Davies, Stuart J.; Bennett, Amy C. Global Change Biology, Vol. 21, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12712	journal	September 2014
Urgent need for warming experiments in tropical forests Cavaleri, Molly A.; Reed, Sasha C.; Smith, W. Kolby Global Change Biology, Vol. 21, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12860	journal	March 2015
Biodiversity and climate determine the functioning of Neotropical forests Poorter, Lourens; van der Sande, Masha T.; Arets, Eric J. M. M. Global Ecology and Biogeography, Vol. 26, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12668	journal	November 2017
Global importance of large-diameter trees Lutz, James A.; Furniss, Tucker J.; Johnson, Daniel J. Global Ecology and Biogeography, Vol. 27, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12747	journal	May 2018
The role of desiccation tolerance in determining tree species distributions along the Malay–Thai Peninsula Baltzer, J. L.; Davies, S. J.; Bunyavejchewin, S. Functional Ecology, Vol. 22, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2007.01374.x	journal	April 2008
Plant functional type classifications in tropical dry forests in Costa Rica: leaf habit versus taxonomic approaches: Leaf habit and functional traits of dry forest trees Powers, Jennifer S.; Tiffin, Peter Functional Ecology, Vol. 24, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2010.01701.x	journal	March 2010
Habitat associations of trees and shrubs in a 50-ha neotropical forest plot Harms, Kyle E.; Condit, Richard; Hubbell, Stephen P. Journal of Ecology, Vol. 89, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2001.00615.x	journal	December 2001
The determinants of leaf turgor loss point and prediction of drought tolerance of species and biomes: a global meta-analysis: Drivers of plant drought tolerance Bartlett, Megan K.; Scoffoni, Christine; Sack, Lawren Ecology Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01751.x	journal	March 2012
Leaf hydraulic architecture correlates with regeneration irradiance in tropical rainforest trees Sack, Lawren; Tyree, Melvin T.; Holbrook, N. Michele New Phytologist, Vol. 167, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01432.x	journal	April 2005
Drought-mortality relationships for tropical forests Phillips, Oliver L.; van der Heijden, Geertje; Lewis, Simon L. New Phytologist, Vol. 187, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03359.x	journal	July 2010
Seedling Traits Determine Drought Tolerance of Tropical Tree Species Poorter, Lourens; Markesteijn, Lars Biotropica, Vol. 40, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2007.00380.x	journal	May 2008
Rapid determination of comparative drought tolerance traits: using an osmometer to predict turgor loss point Bartlett, Megan K.; Scoffoni, Christine; Ardy, Rico Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 3, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2012.00230.x	journal	July 2012
New insights into mechanisms driving carbon allocation in tropical forests Hofhansl, Florian; Schnecker, Jörg; Singer, Gabriel New Phytologist, Vol. 205, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.13007	journal	September 2014
Role of tree size in moist tropical forest carbon cycling and water deficit responses Meakem, Victoria; Tepley, Alan J.; Gonzalez-Akre, Erika B. New Phytologist, Vol. 219, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.14633	journal	June 2017
Adjustments and coordination of hydraulic, leaf and stem traits along a water availability gradient Rosas, Teresa; Mencuccini, Maurizio; Barba, Josep New Phytologist, Vol. 223, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15684	journal	February 2019
Climatic limits of temperate rainforest tree species are explained by xylem embolism resistance among angiosperms but not among conifers Laughlin, Daniel C.; Delzon, Sylvain; Clearwater, Michael J. New Phytologist, Vol. 226, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16448	journal	May 2020
Tree height and leaf drought tolerance traits shape growth responses across droughts in a temperate broadleaf forest McGregor, Ian R.; Helcoski, Ryan; Kunert, Norbert New Phytologist https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16996	journal	November 2020
Molecular and physiological responses of trees to waterlogging stress: Responses of tree to waterlogging Kreuzwieser, JÜRgen; Rennenberg, Heinz Plant, Cell & Environment https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.12310	journal	April 2014
Vulnerability to xylem embolism as a major correlate of the environmental distribution of rain forest species on a tropical island: Embolism vulnerability and rain forest species distribution Trueba, Santiago; Pouteau, Robin; Lens, Frederic Plant, Cell & Environment, Vol. 40, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.12859	journal	December 2016
Does the turgor loss point characterize drought response in dryland plants?: Turgor loss point and drought tolerance Farrell, Claire; Szota, Christopher; Arndt, Stefan K. Plant, Cell & Environment, Vol. 40, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.12948	journal	April 2017
Hydraulic traits are coordinated with maximum plant height at the global scale Liu, Hui; Gleason, Sean M.; Hao, Guangyou Science Advances, Vol. 5, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav1332	journal	February 2019
From Plant Traits to Plant Communities: A Statistical Mechanistic Approach to Biodiversity Shipley, B.; Vile, D.; Garnier, E. Science, Vol. 314, Issue 5800 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1131344	journal	November 2006
Spatial Patterns in the Distribution of Tropical Tree Species Condit, R. Science, Vol. 288, Issue 5470 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.288.5470.1414	journal	May 2000
Hanging by a thread? Forests and drought Brodribb, Timothy J.; Powers, Jennifer; Cochard, Hervé Science, Vol. 368, Issue 6488 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat7631	journal	April 2020
Climate change drives tree mortality Klein, Tamir; Hartmann, Henrik Science, Vol. 362, Issue 6416 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav6508	journal	November 2018
Pervasive shifts in forest dynamics in a changing world McDowell, Nate G.; Allen, Craig D.; Anderson-Teixeira, Kristina Science, Vol. 368, Issue 6494 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaz9463	journal	May 2020
Phenology of tropical forests: patterns, causes, and consequences Reich, P. B. Canadian Journal of Botany, Vol. 73, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1139/b95-020	journal	February 1995
Plant Ecological Strategies: Some Leading Dimensions of Variation Between Species Westoby, Mark; Falster, Daniel S.; Moles, Angela T. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, Vol. 33, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.33.010802.150452	journal	November 2002
Climate–Carbon Cycle Feedback Analysis: Results from the C ⁴ MIP Model Intercomparison Friedlingstein, P.; Cox, P.; Betts, R. Journal of Climate, Vol. 19, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3800.1	journal	July 2006
Adaptive significance of evergreen vs. deciduous leaves: solving the triple paradox Givnish, Thomas Silva Fennica, Vol. 36, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.535	journal	January 2002
Assessing the Response of Terrestrial Ecosystems to Potential Changes in Precipitation Weltzin, Jake F.; Loik, Michael E.; Schwinning, Susanne BioScience, Vol. 53, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0941:ATROTE]2.0.CO;2	journal	January 2003
The Strucplot Framework: Visualizing Multi-way Contingency Tables with vcd Meyer, David; Zeileis, Achim; Hornik, Kurt Journal of Statistical Software, Vol. 17, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v017.i03	journal	January 2006
Leaf Traits are good Predictors of Plant Performance Across 53 rain Forest Species Poorter, Lourens; Bongers, Frans Ecology, Vol. 87, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2006)87[1733:LTAGPO]2.0.CO;2	journal	July 2006
Drought tolerance as a driver of tropical forest assembly: resolving spatial signatures for multiple processes Bartlett, M. K.; Zhang, Y.; Yang, J. Ecology, Vol. 97, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0468.1	journal	February 2016
Causes of variation in leaf-level drought tolerance within an Amazonian forest Maréchaux, Isabelle; Bartlett, Megan K.; Gaucher, Philippe Journal of Plant Hydraulics, Vol. 3 https://doi.org/10.20870/jph.2016.e004	journal	January 2016
Wood density as a proxy for vulnerability to cavitation: Size matters Rosner, Sabine Journal of Plant Hydraulics, Vol. 4 https://doi.org/10.20870/jph.2017.e001	journal	January 2017
Experimental Studies of Seedling Recruitment from Contrasting Seed Distributions Augspurger, Carol K.; Kitajima, Kaoru Ecology, Vol. 73, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.2307/1940675	journal	August 1992
Mortality Rates of 205 Neotropical Tree and Shrub Species and the Impact of a Severe Drought Condit, Richard; Hubbell, Stephen P.; Foster, Robin B. Ecological Monographs, Vol. 65, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.2307/2963497	journal	February 1995
Quantifying the deciduousness of tropical forest canopies under varying climates Condit, Richard; Watts, Kristina; Bohlman, Stephanie A. Journal of Vegetation Science, Vol. 11, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.2307/3236572	journal	April 2000
Changes in precipitation with climate change Trenberth, Ke Climate Research, Vol. 47, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3354/cr00953	journal	March 2011
Quantifying Leaf Phenology of Individual Trees and Species in a Tropical Forest Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Images Park, John Y.; Muller-Landau, Helene C.; Lichstein, Jeremy W. Remote Sensing, Vol. 11, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11131534	journal	June 2019
Leafing Patterns and Drivers across Seasonally Dry Tropical Communities Alberton, Bruna; da Silva Torres, Ricardo; Sanna Freire Silva, Thiago Remote Sensing, Vol. 11, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11192267	journal	September 2019
Linking wood traits to vital rates in tropical rainforest trees: Insights from comparing sapling and adult wood Osazuwa-Peters, Oyomoare L.; Wright, S. Joseph; Zanne, Amy E. American Journal of Botany, Vol. 104, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1700242	journal	October 2017
Preliminary indications for diverging heat and drought sensitivities in Norway spruce and Scots pine in Central Europe Kunert, N. iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Vol. 13, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor3216-012	journal	January 2020

Similar Records

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
deciduous
drought tolerance
evergreen
forest response
moisture
osmotic potential
species traits
water potential at turgor loss point

Leaf turgor loss point shapes local and regional distributions of evergreen but not deciduous tropical trees

Citation Formats

References (72)

Similar Records

Related Subjects