Growing-season temperature and precipitation are independent drivers of global variation in xylem hydraulic conductivity

© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd..

Stem xylem-specific hydraulic conductivity (KS ) represents the potential for plant water transport normalized by xylem cross section, length, and driving force. Variation in KS has implications for plant transpiration and photosynthesis, growth and survival, and also the geographic distribution of species. Clarifying the global-scale patterns of KS and its major drivers is needed to achieve a better understanding of how plants adapt to different environmental conditions, particularly under climate change scenarios. Here, we compiled a xylem hydraulics dataset with 1,186 species-at-site combinations (975 woody species representing 146 families, from 199 sites worldwide), and investigated how KS varied with climatic variables, plant functional types, and biomes. Growing-season temperature and growing-season precipitation drove global variation in KS independently. Both the mean and the variation in KS were highest in the warm and wet tropical regions, and lower in cold and dry regions, such as tundra and desert biomes. Our results suggest that future warming and redistribution of seasonal precipitation may have a significant impact on species functional diversity, and is likely to be particularly important in regions becoming warmer or drier, such as high latitudes. This highlights an important role for KS in predicting shifts in community composition in the face of climate change.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2020

Erschienen:

2020

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:26

Enthalten in:

Global change biology - 26(2020), 3 vom: 03. März, Seite 1833-1841

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

He, Pengcheng [VerfasserIn]
Gleason, Sean M [VerfasserIn]
Wright, Ian J [VerfasserIn]
Weng, Ensheng [VerfasserIn]
Liu, Hui [VerfasserIn]
Zhu, Shidan [VerfasserIn]
Lu, Mingzhen [VerfasserIn]
Luo, Qi [VerfasserIn]
Li, Ronghua [VerfasserIn]
Wu, Guilin [VerfasserIn]
Yan, Enrong [VerfasserIn]
Song, Yanjun [VerfasserIn]
Mi, Xiangcheng [VerfasserIn]
Hao, Guangyou [VerfasserIn]
Reich, Peter B [VerfasserIn]
Wang, Yingping [VerfasserIn]
Ellsworth, David S [VerfasserIn]
Ye, Qing [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

059QF0KO0R
Biome
Climate
Functional types
Hydraulic diversity
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Species distribution
Water
Water transport

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 19.03.2020

Date Revised 19.03.2020

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1111/gcb.14929

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM303520191