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Combined high leaf hydraulic safety and efficiency provides drought tolerance in Caragana species adapted to low mean annual precipitation.

ABSTRACT: Clarifying the coordination of leaf hydraulic traits with gas exchange across closely-related species adapted to varying rainfall can provide insights into plant habitat distribution and drought adaptation. The leaf hydraulic conductance (K_leaf ), stomatal conductance (g_s ), net assimilation (A), vein embolism and abscisic acid (ABA) concentration during dehydration were quantified, as well as pressure-volume curve traits and vein anatomy in 10 Caragana species adapted to a range of mean annual precipitation (MAP) conditions and growing in a common garden. We found a positive correlation between ?_leaf at 50% loss of K_leaf (K_leaf P₅₀ ) and maximum K_leaf (K_leaf-max ) across species. Species from low-MAP environments exhibited more negative K_leaf P₅₀ and turgor loss point, and higher K_leaf-max and leaf-specific capacity at full turgor, along with higher vein density and midrib xylem per leaf area, and a higher ratio of K_leaf-max : maximum g_s . Tighter stomatal control mediated by higher ABA accumulation during dehydration in these species resulted in an increase in hydraulic safety and intrinsic water use efficiency (WUE_i ) during drought. Our results suggest that high hydraulic safety and efficiency combined with greater stomatal sensitivity triggered by ABA production and leading to greater WUE_i provides drought tolerance in Caragana species adapted to low-MAP environments.

SUBMITTER: Yao GQ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7754512 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Combined high leaf hydraulic safety and efficiency provides drought tolerance in Caragana species adapted to low mean annual precipitation.

Yao Guang-Qian GQ Nie Zheng-Fei ZF Turner Neil C NC Li Feng-Min FM Gao Tian-Peng TP Fang Xiang-Wen XW Scoffoni Christine C

The New phytologist 20200907 1

Clarifying the coordination of leaf hydraulic traits with gas exchange across closely-related species adapted to varying rainfall can provide insights into plant habitat distribution and drought adaptation. The leaf hydraulic conductance (K<sub>leaf</sub> ), stomatal conductance (g<sub>s</sub> ), net assimilation (A), vein embolism and abscisic acid (ABA) concentration during dehydration were quantified, as well as pressure-volume curve traits and vein anatomy in 10 Caragana species adapted to a ...[more]

PMID: 32749703

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Project description:BackgroundLeaf hydraulic and economics traits are critical for balancing plant water and CO2 exchange, and their relationship has been widely studied. Leaf anatomical traits determine the efficiency of CO2 diffusion within mesophyll structure. However, it remains unclear whether leaf anatomical traits are associated with leaf hydraulic and economics traits acclimation to long-term drought.ResultsTo address this knowledge gap, eight hydraulic traits, including stomatal and venation structures, four economics traits, including leaf dry mass per area (LMA) and the ratio between palisade and spongy mesophyll thickness (PT/ST), and four anatomical traits related to CO2 diffusion were measured in tomato seedlings under the long-term drought conditions. Redundancy analysis indicated that the long-term drought decreased stomatal conductance (gs) mainly due to a synchronized reduction in hydraulic structure such as leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) and major vein width. Simultaneously, stomatal aperture on the adaxial surface and minor vein density (VDminor) also contributed a lot to this reduction. The decreases in mesophyll thickness (Tmes) and chlorophyll surface area exposed to leaf intercellular air spaces (Sc/S) were primarily responsible for the decline of mesophyll conductance (gm) thereby affecting photosynthesis. Drought increased leaf density (LD) thus limited CO2 diffusion. In addition, LMA may not be important in regulating gm in tomato under drought. Principal component analysis revealed that main anatomical traits such as Tmes and Sc/S were positively correlated to Kleaf, VDminor and leaf thickness (LT), while negatively associated with PT/ST.ConclusionsThese findings indicated that leaf anatomy plays an important role in maintaining the balance between water supply and CO2 diffusion responses to drought. There was a strong coordination between leaf hydraulic, anatomical, and economical traits in tomato seedlings acclimation to long-term drought.

Project description:Drought can occur at different times during the grassland growing season, likely having contrasting effects on forage production when happening early or later in the season. However, knowledge about the interacting effects of the timing of drought and the development stage of the vegetation during the growing season is still scarce, thus limiting our ability to accurately predict forage quantity losses. To investigate plant community responses to drought seasonality (early- vs. late-season), we established a drought experiment in two permanent grasslands of the Swiss Jura Mountains that are used for forage production. We measured three plant functional traits, including two leaf traits related to plant economics (specific leaf area, SLA; leaf dry matter content, LDMC) and one hydraulic trait related to physiological function (predicted percentage loss of hydraulic conductance, PLCp), of the most abundant species, and plant above-ground biomass production. Plant species composition was also determined to calculate community-weighted mean (CWM) traits. First, we observed that CWM trait values strongly varied during the growing season. Second, we found that late-season drought had stronger effects on CWM trait values than early-season drought and that the plant hydraulic trait was the most variable functional trait. Using a structural equation model, we also showed that reduction in soil moisture had no direct impacts on above-ground biomass production. Instead, we observed that the drought-induced decrease in above-ground biomass production was mediated by a higher CWM PLCp (i.e. higher risk of hydraulic failure) and lower CWM SLA under drought. Change in CWM SLA in response to drought was the best predictor of community above-ground biomass production. Our findings reveal the importance of drought timing together with the plant trait responses to assess drought impacts on grassland biomass production and suggest that incorporating these factors into mechanistic models could considerably improve predictions of climate change impacts.

Dataset Information

Combined high leaf hydraulic safety and efficiency provides drought tolerance in Caragana species adapted to low mean annual precipitation.

Publications

Combined high leaf hydraulic safety and efficiency provides drought tolerance in Caragana species adapted to low mean annual precipitation.

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