Abstract
Identifying the drought-tolerance traits of plant species originating from a moisture gradient will increase our understanding of the differences and similarities in plant drought tolerance. However, which traits can be used to evaluate drought tolerance remain an open question. Here, we conducted a common-garden experiment on 37 shrub species originating from desert to humid regions. The correlations between plant traits and the native environmental conditions were studied. Leaf sizes and Huber values were significantly correlated with most climate variables of the shrubs’ origins. The osmotic potentials at full turgor (π100), turgor loss point (ΨTLP), and midday leaf water potential (Ψmid) were significantly correlated with most climate variables of their origins. We proposed using leaf sizes, Huber values, and ΨTLP as predictors of drought tolerance across shrub species and shrub biomes. Statistically significant correlations were found between π100, ΨTLP, and specific leaf area (SLA). However, owing to the weak correlations between SLA and the climate variables of the shrubs origins and between Huber values and leaf size and turgor loss traits, it was difficult to integrate leaf morphological traits with physiological traits to find a simple way to accurately quantify drought-tolerance-related differences among these shrub species.
Highlights
All ecosystems worldwide will be influenced to certain degree by climate change, with forecast for more frequent and severe drought occurrence in the future [1]
An and leaf morphology and physiology were weak in the common garden [12,41], compare with the increasing quantity of literature indicated within-species correlations between native climate and leaf persistently more robust correlations among species growing at different sites along a wide moisture morphology and physiology were weak in the common garden [12,41], compare with the persistently gradient [6,21,23,34,42] and even in common closely related garden species [43]
The significant correlations between their natural species with different climatic origins were planted in a common garden for at least five years before distribution sites’ climatic conditions and their morphological and physiological traits demonstrated they were used in our experiment
Summary
All ecosystems worldwide will be influenced to certain degree by climate change, with forecast for more frequent and severe drought occurrence in the future [1]. The effective protection of existing forests to provide services under these circumstances must involve the cautious consideration of species’ capacities to withstand future climatic interferences and acclimation to future climate regimes [6]. Identifying the leaf drought-tolerance traits that are positioned on a moisture or aridity gradient may help us further understand the differences in drought tolerance and will assist in characterizing the impact associated with exposure to future climates. This understanding may help us to reveal the species’ different vulnerabilities to climate-induced drought and facilitate the development of effective measures to protect forests
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