skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Precipitation mediates sap flux sensitivity to evaporative demand in the neotropics

Journal Article · · Oecologia
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [13];  [14];  [15];  [15];  [16];  [17];  [13];  [15] more »;  [18];  [18];  [15];  [11];  [19];  [20];  [15];  [21];  [22];  [10];  [3];  [10];  [23] « less
  1. Swiss Federal Inst. for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf (Switzerland); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX (United States)
  3. USDA Forest Service, Rio Piedras, PR (United States)
  4. Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst., Panama City (Panama); Smithsonian Conservation Biology Inst., Front Royal, VA (United States)
  5. Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)
  6. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States); Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
  7. Chapman Univ., Orange, CA (United States)
  8. Florida International Univ., Miami, FL (United States)
  9. Univ. of Lorraine, Nancy (France)
  10. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  11. Univ. de Guyane, Kourou (France)
  12. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  13. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  14. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst., Panama City (Panama)
  15. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  16. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States); Univ. of Montpellier (France)
  17. Inst. Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus (Brazil)
  18. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
  19. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
  20. Swiss Federal Inst. for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf (Switzerland); ETH Zurich (Switzerland); Czech Univ. of Life Sciences Prague, Suchdol (Czech Republic)
  21. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  22. Smithsonian Tropical Research Inst., Panama City (Panama); Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)
  23. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Transpiration in humid tropical forests modulates the global water cycle and is a key driver of climate regulation. Yet, our understanding of how tropical trees regulate sap flux in response to climate variability remains elusive. With a progressively warming climate, atmospheric evaporative demand [i.e., vapor pressure deficit (VPD)] will be increasingly important for plant functioning, becoming the major control of plant water use in the twenty-first century. Using measurements in 34 tree species at seven sites across a precipitation gradient in the neotropics, we determined how the maximum sap flux velocity (vmax) and the VPD threshold at which vmax is reached (VPDmax) vary with precipitation regime [mean annual precipitation (MAP); seasonal drought intensity (PDRY)] and two functional traits related to foliar and wood economics spectra [leaf mass per area (LMA); wood specific gravity (WSG)]. We show that, even though vmax is highly variable within sites, it follows a negative trend in response to increasing MAP and PDRY across sites. LMA and WSG exerted little effect on vmax and VPDmax, suggesting that these widely used functional traits provide limited explanatory power of dynamic plant responses to environmental variation within hyper-diverse forests. This study demonstrates that long-term precipitation plays an important role in the sap flux response of humid tropical forests to VPD. Finally, our findings suggest that under higher evaporative demand, trees growing in wetter environments in humid tropical regions may be subjected to reduced water exchange with the atmosphere relative to trees growing in drier climates.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF); Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; Agence Nationale de la Recherché (ANR); Ecofor; Allenvi; AnaEE France
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; SC0011806; 5231.00639.001.01; AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1581383
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1607289
Journal Information:
Oecologia, Vol. 191, Issue 3; ISSN 0029-8549
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 10 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (82)

PERSPECTIVE: Rethinking the value of high wood density: Rethinking the value of high wood density journal March 2010
Chemical root to shoot signaling under drought journal June 2008
The apparent feedforward response of stomata to air vapour pressure deficit: information revealed by different experimental procedures with two rainforest trees journal January 1997
Comparison of tree transpiration under wet and dry canopy conditions in a Costa Rican premontane tropical forest: Tropical Tree Transpiration Response to Wet and Dry Canopy Conditions journal August 2016
Upscaling transpiration in diverse forests: Insights from a tropical premontane site journal December 2017
The increasing importance of atmospheric demand for ecosystem water and carbon fluxes journal September 2016
Evaluation of transpiration in a Douglas-fir stand by means of sap flow measurements journal December 1987
Transpiration sensitivity of urban trees in a semi-arid climate is constrained by xylem vulnerability to cavitation journal March 2012
The role of abscisic acid in disturbed stomatal response characteristics of Tradescantia virginiana during growth at high relative air humidity journal December 2006
Influence of Seasonal Variations in Soil Water Availability on Gas Exchange of Tropical Canopy Trees journal July 2012
Diversity in plant hydraulic traits explains seasonal and inter-annual variations of vegetation dynamics in seasonally dry tropical forests journal May 2016
Stomatal density, anatomy and nutrient concentrations of Scots pine needles are affected by elevated CO2 and temperature journal June 2005
Wood specific gravity and anatomy of branches and roots in 113 Amazonian rainforest tree species across environmental gradients journal December 2013
Trait selection and community weighting are key to understanding ecosystem responses to changing precipitation regimes journal May 2018
Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities journal February 2000
Leaf, stem and root tissue strategies across 758 Neotropical tree species journal July 2012
Plant hydraulics and photosynthesis of 34 woody species from different successional stages of subtropical forests: Hydraulics and photosynthesis of subtropical plants journal November 2012
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 journal March 2012
Precipitation recycling in the Amazon basin journal July 1994
Analysis of circular bordered pit function II. Gymnosperm tracheids with torus-margo pit membranes journal March 2004
Coordination of leaf and stem water transport properties in tropical forest trees journal February 2008
The worldwide leaf economics spectrum journal April 2004
From tropics to tundra: Global convergence in plant functioning journal December 1997
Plasticity in hydraulic architecture of Scots pine across Eurasia journal April 2007
Survey and synthesis of intra- and interspecific variation in stomatal sensitivity to vapour pressure deficit: Intra- and interspecific variation in stomatal sensitivity to vapour pressure deficit journal December 1999
Variation of carbon and nitrogen cycling processes along a topographic gradient in a central Amazonian forest journal May 2004
Being John Harper: Using evolutionary ideas to improve understanding of global patterns in plant traits journal December 2017
Dry-season decline in tree sapflux is correlated with leaf turgor loss point in a tropical rainforest journal August 2018
Impact of severe dry season on net ecosystem exchange in the Neotropical rainforest of French Guiana journal August 2008
Amazonia revealed: forest degradation and loss of ecosystem goods and services in the Amazon Basin journal February 2007
Stomatal responses to changes in humidity in plants growing in the desert journal January 1972
Tree water dynamics in a drying and warming world: Future tree water dynamics journal June 2017
Xylem plasticity in response to climate journal August 2012
Vegetation Greening and Climate Change Promote Multidecadal Rises of Global Land Evapotranspiration journal October 2015
Resource acquisition and reproductive strategies of tropical forest in response to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation journal March 2018
Leaf Anatomy and Stomatal Morphology of Greenhouse Roses Grown at Moderate or High Air Humidity journal July 2003
Vegetation demographics in Earth System Models: A review of progress and priorities journal October 2017
Modulation of leaf economic traits and trait relationships by climate: Modulation of leaf traits by climate journal August 2005
Improved allometric models to estimate the aboveground biomass of tropical trees journal June 2014
Calibration of thermal dissipation sap flow probes for ring- and diffuse-porous trees journal November 2010
Depth of soil water uptake by tropical rainforest trees during dry periods: does tree dimension matter? journal July 2013
SAPFLUXNET: towards a global database of sap flow measurements journal November 2016
Contribution of transpiration to forest ambient vapour based on isotopic measurements journal October 1997
Hydrological niche segregation defines forest structure and drought tolerance strategies in a seasonal Amazon forest journal July 2018
The importance of hydraulic architecture to the distribution patterns of trees in a central Amazonian forest journal March 2017
The world-wide ‘fast-slow’ plant economics spectrum: a traits manifesto journal February 2014
A global analysis of parenchyma tissue fractions in secondary xylem of seed plants journal November 2015
Optimal stomatal behavior with competition for water and risk of hydraulic impairment journal October 2016
The redistribution of soil water by tree root systems journal July 1998
High Humidity Induces Abscisic Acid 8′-Hydroxylase in Stomata and Vasculature to Regulate Local and Systemic Abscisic Acid Responses in Arabidopsis journal November 2008
Manipulative experiments demonstrate how long-term soil moisture changes alter controls of plant water use journal August 2018
A unified nomenclature for sap flow measurements journal January 1997
The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project
  • Compo, G. P.; Whitaker, J. S.; Sardeshmukh, P. D.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 137, Issue 654 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.776
journal January 2011
A comparison of sap flux density using thermal dissipation, heat pulse velocity and heat field deformation methods journal July 2010
Taking off the training wheels: the properties of a dynamic vegetation model without climate envelopes, CLM4.5(ED) journal January 2015
Infrared heater system for warming tropical forest understory plants and soils journal January 2018
Regulation of water flux through tropical forest canopy trees: Do universal rules apply? journal January 2001
How do lianas and trees change their vascular strategy in seasonal versus rain forest? journal October 2019
Forest response to rising CO2 drives zonally asymmetric rainfall change over tropical land journal April 2018
Whole-tree water transport scales with sapwood capacitance in tropical forest canopy trees journal July 2003
On the importance of cascading moisture recycling in South America journal January 2014
The ecological significance of long-distance water transport: short-term regulation, long-term acclimation and the hydraulic costs of stature across plant life forms journal January 2003
A Method for Scaling Vegetation Dynamics: the Ecosystem Demography Model (ed) journal November 2001
Broad Anatomical Variation within a Narrow Wood Density Range—A Study of Twig Wood across 69 Australian Angiosperms journal April 2015
Water loss and postharvest characteristics of cut roses grown at high or moderate relative air humidity journal July 2001
Transpiration in the global water cycle journal June 2014
Tropical forest cover change in the 1990s and options for future monitoring journal February 2005
In situ temperature response of photosynthesis of 42 tree and liana species in the canopy of two Panamanian lowland tropical forests with contrasting rainfall regimes journal February 2017
The value of wet leaves journal June 2018
Baseliner: An open-source, interactive tool for processing sap flux data from thermal dissipation probes journal January 2016
A demonstration of the theoretical prediction that sap velocity is related to wood density in the conifer Dacrydium cupressinum journal April 2003
Linking hydraulic traits to tropical forest function in a size-structured and trait-driven model (TFS v.1-Hydro) journal January 2016
Progressing from ‘functional’ to mechanistic traits journal May 2017
A metadata reporting framework (FRAMES) for synthesis of ecohydrological observations journal November 2017
Relationships Among Ecologically Important Dimensions of Plant Trait Variation in Seven Neotropical Forests journal April 2006
Ecology of Tropical Dry Forest journal November 1986
Implementing Plant Hydraulics in the Community Land Model, Version 5 journal February 2019
Predicting stomatal responses to the environment from the optimization of photosynthetic gain and hydraulic cost: A stomatal optimization model journal December 2016
Decoupled leaf and stem economics in rain forest trees: Decoupled leaf and stem economics spectra journal August 2010
A Method for Scaling Vegetation Dynamics: The Ecosystem Demography Model (ED) journal November 2001
The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project text January 2011
On the importance of cascading moisture recycling in South America other January 2014

Similar Records

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
evapotranspiration
plant functional traits
transpiration
vapor pressure deficit