Abstract

A plant species can have diverse hydraulic strategies to adapt to different environments. However, the water transport divergence of co-occurring species in contrasting habitats remains poorly studied but is important for understanding their ecophysiology adaptation to their environments. Here, we investigated whole-branch, stem and leaf water transport strategies and associated morphology traits of 11 co-occurring plant species in Yuanjiang valley-type savanna (YJ) with dry–hot habitats and Xishuangbanna tropical seasonal rainforest (XSBN) with wet–hot habits and tested the hypothesis that plants in YJ have a lower water transport efficiency than co-occurring species in XSBN. We found high variation in whole-branch, stem and leaf hydraulic conductance (Kshoot; Kstem and Kleaf) between YJ and XSBN, and that Kstem was significantly higher than Kleaf in these two sites (Kstem/Kleaf: 16.77 in YJ and 6.72 in XSBN). These plants in YJ with significantly lower Kshoot and Kleaf but higher sapwood density (WD) and leaf mass per area (LMA) showed a lower water transport efficiency regarding less water loss and the adaptation to the dry–hot habitat compared to co-occurring species in XSBN. In contrast, these co-occurring plants in XSBN with higher Kshoot and Kleaf but lower WD and LMA tended to maximize water transport efficiency and thus growth potential in the wet–hot habitat. Our findings suggest that these co-occurring species employ divergent hydraulic efficiency across YJ and XSBN so that they can benefit from the contrasting hydraulic strategies in adaptation to their respective habitats.

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