Hydraulic plasticity and water use regulation act to maintain the hydraulic safety margins of Mediterranean trees in rainfall exclusion experiments - Ecologie des Forêts Méditerranéennes
Journal Articles Plant, Cell and Environment Year : 2024

Hydraulic plasticity and water use regulation act to maintain the hydraulic safety margins of Mediterranean trees in rainfall exclusion experiments

Myriam Moreno
Jean‐luc Dupuy
Julien Ruffault
Sylvain Delzon
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 1410487

Abstract

Hydraulic failure due to xylem embolism has been identified as one of the main mechanisms involved in drought‐induced forest decline. Trees vulnerability to hydraulic failure depends on their hydraulic safety margin (HSM). While it has been shown that HSM globally converges between tree species and biomes, there is still limited knowledge regarding how HSM can adjust locally to varying drought conditions within species. In this study, we relied on three long‐term partial rainfall exclusion experiments to investigate the plasticity of hydraulic traits and HSM for three Mediterranean tree species ( Quercus ilex L., Quercus pubescens Willd ., and Pinus halepensis Mill .). For all species, a homeostasis of HSM in response to rainfall reduction was found, achieved through different mechanisms. For Q. ilex , the convergence in HSM is attributed to the adjustment of both the turgor loss point (Ψtlp) and the water potential at which 50% of xylem conductivity is lost due to embolism (P50). In contrast, the maintenance of HSM for P. halepensis and Q. pubescens is related to its isohydric behavior for the first and leaf area adjustment for the latter. It remains to be seen whether this HSM homeostasis can be generalized and if it will be sufficient to withstand extreme droughts expected in the Mediterranean region.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
Moreno_HSM_PCE_Manuscript.pdf (2.09 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origin Files produced by the author(s)
licence

Dates and versions

hal-04681185 , version 1 (05-09-2024)

Licence

Identifiers

Cite

Myriam Moreno, Jean‐marc Limousin, Guillaume Simioni, Eric Badel, Jesus Rodríguez-Calcerrada, et al.. Hydraulic plasticity and water use regulation act to maintain the hydraulic safety margins of Mediterranean trees in rainfall exclusion experiments. Plant, Cell and Environment, 2024, 47 (12), pp.4741-4753. ⟨10.1111/pce.15066⟩. ⟨hal-04681185⟩
318 View
16 Download

Altmetric

Share

More