Hydraulic architecture and vulnerability to drought-induced embolism in southern boreal tree species of Inner Asia

The branch xylem of six important Inner Asian southern boreal forest trees was studied for wood-anatomical and hydraulic traits in order to infer the species' drought tolerance from embolism resistance, potential hydraulic conductivity, mean conduit diameters and conduit density. The only studied angiosperm tree, Betula pendula Roth, was much more sensitive to cavitation than all five conifers (evergreen or summer-green), even when using 88% loss of conductivity (P88) in birch, but 50% (P50) in the conifers as critical thresholds. This suggests that pioneer birch forests, which have widely replaced the conifer climax forests after anthropogenic disturbance (e.g., logging, man-made fire), are more vulnerable to climate warming-induced drought than the original conifer forests. In contrast to expectation, the generally more drought-exposed light taiga species (Larix sibirica Ledeb., Pinus sylvestris L.) did not have consistently lower P50 and P88 values than the dark taiga conifers, suggesting that other drought survival traits are equally important. Among the dark-taiga species, only Pinus sibirica Du Tour, but not Abies sibirica Ledeb. and Picea obovata Ledeb., had relatively high P50 values indicating higher vulnerability. In the light-taiga forest, P. sylvestris revealed lower embolism resistance than L. sibirica. In the face of rapid climate warming and drying in Inner Asia, the drought survival strategies of southern boreal tree species deserve further intensive study, which should include other drought survival traits.