Hydraulic prediction of drought-induced plant dieback and top-kill depends on leaf habit and growth form
Ya-Jun Chen1,2,3,4, Brendan Choat5, Frank Sterck4
1CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, China.
Abstract:
Hydraulic failure caused by severe drought contributes to aboveground dieback and whole-plant death. The extent to which dieback or whole-plant death can be predicted by plant hydraulic traits has rarely been tested among species with different leaf habits and/or growth forms. We investigated 19 hydraulic traits in 40 woody species in a tropical savanna and their potential correlations with drought response during an extreme drought event during the El Niño-Southern Oscillation in 2015. Plant hydraulic trait variation was partitioned substantially by leaf habit but not growth form along a trade-off axis between traits that support drought tolerance versus avoidance. Semi-deciduous species and shrubs had the highest branch dieback and top-kill (complete aboveground death) among the leaf habits or growth forms. Dieback and top-kill were well explained by combining hydraulic traits with leaf habit and growth form, suggesting integrating life history traits with hydraulic traits will yield better predictions.
Related Concept Videos
Responses to Drought and Flooding
Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss
Responses to Heat and Cold Stress
Responses to Salt Stress
Light Acquisition
Regulation of Transpiration by Stomata


