Desiccation time during drought is highly predictable across species of Eucalyptus from contrasting climates

Chris J. Blackman; Ximeng Li; Brendan Choat; Paul D. Rymer; Martin G. De Kauwe; Remko A. Duursma; David T. Tissue; Belinda E. Medlyn

doi:10.1111/nph.16042

Desiccation time during drought is highly predictable across species of Eucalyptus from contrasting climates

Chris J. Blackman^*, Ximeng Li, Brendan Choat, Paul D. Rymer, Martin G. De Kauwe, Remko A. Duursma, David T. Tissue, Belinda E. Medlyn

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

77 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Catastrophic failure of the water transport pathway in trees is a principal mechanism of mortality during extreme drought. To be able to predict the probability of mortality at an individual and landscape scale we need knowledge of the time for plants to reach critical levels of hydraulic failure. We grew plants of eight species of Eucalyptus originating from contrasting climates before allowing a subset to dehydrate. We tested whether a trait-based model of time to plant desiccation t_crit, from stomatal closure g_s90 to a critical level of hydraulic dysfunction Ψ_crit is consistent with observed dry-down times. Plant desiccation time varied among species, ranging from 96.2 to 332 h at a vapour-pressure deficit of 1 kPa, and was highly predictable using the t_crit model in conjunction with a leaf shedding function. Plant desiccation time was longest in species with high cavitation resistance, strong vulnerability segmentation, wide stomatal-hydraulic safety, and a high ratio of total plant water content to leaf area. Knowledge of t_crit in combination with water-use traits that influence stomatal closure could significantly increase our ability to predict the timing of drought-induced mortality at tree and forest scales.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	632-643
Number of pages	12
Journal	New Phytologist
Volume	224
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16042
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We gratefully thank Renee Smith, Chelsea Maier, and Noni Gander for assisting with data collection, as well as Andrew Gherlenda for assisting with growth facility maintenance. This research was funded by an ARC Linkage grant (LP140100232) with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF grant RP04-122), and an ARC Future Fellowship (FT130101115).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2019 New Phytologist Trust

Keywords

drought
eucalyptus
g
hydraulic failure
plant desiccation time
relative water content
stomatal closure

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title = "Desiccation time during drought is highly predictable across species of Eucalyptus from contrasting climates",

abstract = "Catastrophic failure of the water transport pathway in trees is a principal mechanism of mortality during extreme drought. To be able to predict the probability of mortality at an individual and landscape scale we need knowledge of the time for plants to reach critical levels of hydraulic failure. We grew plants of eight species of Eucalyptus originating from contrasting climates before allowing a subset to dehydrate. We tested whether a trait-based model of time to plant desiccation tcrit, from stomatal closure gs90 to a critical level of hydraulic dysfunction Ψcrit is consistent with observed dry-down times. Plant desiccation time varied among species, ranging from 96.2 to 332 h at a vapour-pressure deficit of 1 kPa, and was highly predictable using the tcrit model in conjunction with a leaf shedding function. Plant desiccation time was longest in species with high cavitation resistance, strong vulnerability segmentation, wide stomatal-hydraulic safety, and a high ratio of total plant water content to leaf area. Knowledge of tcrit in combination with water-use traits that influence stomatal closure could significantly increase our ability to predict the timing of drought-induced mortality at tree and forest scales.",

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author = "Blackman, {Chris J.} and Ximeng Li and Brendan Choat and Rymer, {Paul D.} and {De Kauwe}, {Martin G.} and Duursma, {Remko A.} and Tissue, {David T.} and Medlyn, {Belinda E.}",

note = "Funding Information: We gratefully thank Renee Smith, Chelsea Maier, and Noni Gander for assisting with data collection, as well as Andrew Gherlenda for assisting with growth facility maintenance. This research was funded by an ARC Linkage grant (LP140100232) with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF grant RP04-122), and an ARC Future Fellowship (FT130101115). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 The Authors. New Phytologist {\textcopyright} 2019 New Phytologist Trust",

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AU - De Kauwe, Martin G.

AU - Duursma, Remko A.

AU - Tissue, David T.

AU - Medlyn, Belinda E.

N1 - Funding Information: We gratefully thank Renee Smith, Chelsea Maier, and Noni Gander for assisting with data collection, as well as Andrew Gherlenda for assisting with growth facility maintenance. This research was funded by an ARC Linkage grant (LP140100232) with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF grant RP04-122), and an ARC Future Fellowship (FT130101115). Publisher Copyright: © 2019 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2019 New Phytologist Trust

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N2 - Catastrophic failure of the water transport pathway in trees is a principal mechanism of mortality during extreme drought. To be able to predict the probability of mortality at an individual and landscape scale we need knowledge of the time for plants to reach critical levels of hydraulic failure. We grew plants of eight species of Eucalyptus originating from contrasting climates before allowing a subset to dehydrate. We tested whether a trait-based model of time to plant desiccation tcrit, from stomatal closure gs90 to a critical level of hydraulic dysfunction Ψcrit is consistent with observed dry-down times. Plant desiccation time varied among species, ranging from 96.2 to 332 h at a vapour-pressure deficit of 1 kPa, and was highly predictable using the tcrit model in conjunction with a leaf shedding function. Plant desiccation time was longest in species with high cavitation resistance, strong vulnerability segmentation, wide stomatal-hydraulic safety, and a high ratio of total plant water content to leaf area. Knowledge of tcrit in combination with water-use traits that influence stomatal closure could significantly increase our ability to predict the timing of drought-induced mortality at tree and forest scales.

AB - Catastrophic failure of the water transport pathway in trees is a principal mechanism of mortality during extreme drought. To be able to predict the probability of mortality at an individual and landscape scale we need knowledge of the time for plants to reach critical levels of hydraulic failure. We grew plants of eight species of Eucalyptus originating from contrasting climates before allowing a subset to dehydrate. We tested whether a trait-based model of time to plant desiccation tcrit, from stomatal closure gs90 to a critical level of hydraulic dysfunction Ψcrit is consistent with observed dry-down times. Plant desiccation time varied among species, ranging from 96.2 to 332 h at a vapour-pressure deficit of 1 kPa, and was highly predictable using the tcrit model in conjunction with a leaf shedding function. Plant desiccation time was longest in species with high cavitation resistance, strong vulnerability segmentation, wide stomatal-hydraulic safety, and a high ratio of total plant water content to leaf area. Knowledge of tcrit in combination with water-use traits that influence stomatal closure could significantly increase our ability to predict the timing of drought-induced mortality at tree and forest scales.

KW - drought

KW - eucalyptus

KW - g

KW - hydraulic failure

KW - plant desiccation time

KW - relative water content

KW - stomatal closure

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JO - New Phytologist

JF - New Phytologist

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ER -

Desiccation time during drought is highly predictable across species of Eucalyptus from contrasting climates

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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