Seasonal Shifts in Tree Water Use and Non-Structural Carbohydrate Storage in a Tropical Dry Forest

Predictions of increased drought frequency and intensity have the potential to threaten to forest globally. The key to trees response to drought is an understanding of tree water use and carbohydrate storage. Our objective was to evaluate sap velocity and dynamics of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in native trees of a dry tropical forest, during rainy and drought periods. We evaluated six key species of the Caatinga: three deciduous species with low wood density (WD), two deciduous species with high WD and one evergreen species during the rainy and dry periods. We measured sap velocity, xylem water potential, stomatal conductance, phenology and NSC. We found that the evergreen specie had higher sap velocity and frequent NSC production. While the low deciduous WD species showed low sap velocity, store water and NSC mainly in the stem and roots, and have leaf sprouting and flowering at the end of the dry period. The deciduous high WD also showed low sap velocity, however, with low stored NSC. These results suggest that under longer dry seasons and an irregular rainy seasons, species with low WD that use part of the stored NSC to resprout still during dry season may be the most affected.