Drought resilience of conifer species is driven by leaf lifespan but not by hydraulic traits

Yanjun Song*, Frank Sterck, Xiaqu Zhou, Qi Liu, Bart Kruijt, Lourens Poorter

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

29 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Increased droughts impair tree growth worldwide. This study analyzes hydraulic and carbon traits of conifer species, and how they shape species strategies in terms of their growth rate and drought resilience. We measured 43 functional stem and leaf traits for 28 conifer species growing in a 50-yr-old common garden experiment in the Netherlands. We assessed: how drought- and carbon-related traits are associated across species, how these traits affect stem growth and drought resilience, and how traits and drought resilience are related to species’ climatic origin. We found two trait spectra: a hydraulics spectrum reflecting a trade-off between hydraulic and biomechanical safety vs hydraulic efficiency, and a leaf economics spectrum reflecting a trade-off between tough, long-lived tissues vs high carbon assimilation rate. Pit aperture size occupied a central position in the trait-based network analysis and also increased stem growth. Drought recovery decreased with leaf lifespan. Conifer species with long-lived leaves suffer from drought legacy effects, as drought-damaged leaves cannot easily be replaced, limiting growth recovery after drought. Leaf lifespan, rather than hydraulic traits, can explain growth responses to a drier future.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)978-992
JournalNew Phytologist
Volume235
Issue number3
Early online date2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2022

Keywords

  • carbon physiology
  • drought resilience
  • functional trait
  • hydraulic trade-off
  • leaf economics spectrum
  • leaf lifespan
  • pit aperture
  • stem growth

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