Abstract
Perennial grasslands provide numerous environmental benefits but their response to severe drought and therefore their sustainability in arid and Mediterranean areas have been little studied. Due to climate change, models of pasture production should be able to predict sward evolutions under increasing aridity. Our general goal was to identify plant traits and functional types that could be included in models aiming to analyse the dynamics of contrasting types of herbaceous plants grown in mixtures under drought. The two steps were: (1) to investigate the morpho-physiological traits associated with drought survival within a mixture of perennial herbaceous populations and to test whether the physiological traits measured under optimum conditions of growth in Spring may predict plant responses under subsequent summer drought and (2) to identify functional groups of populations exhibiting similar responses to the disturbance regime caused by severe drought. Seven different populations from five species were grown in monocultures (pots, long columns) and mixtures (containers, field). Standard leaf functional traits, aerial and root biomass were assessed under non-limiting water supply in Spring. In Summer, under continuous severe drought, leaf water status and plant survival were measured. Senescence of aerial tissues at the end of Spring, associated with endogenous summer dormancy, water status maintenance in basal tissues during the intense drought, and root biomass in the field were the variables best correlated with drought survival. The standard leaf functional traits specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf dry matter content (LDMC) measured in Spring under full irrigation, were uncorrelated with drought survival. These results suggested no general trade-off between growth potential and drought survival. Under conditions of optimal production in Spring, correlations were established between functional traits and variables associated with aerial biomass productivity which discriminated the group of forage cultivars from the other genotypes. Under summer drought, four main functional types of genotypes were defined according to their strategy of water use and therefore contrasting survival and persistence. This typology will be used to base further modelling study aiming to assess the effects of increasing aridity on the stability and productivity of herbaceous swards on the long term.
Published Version
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