Tropical Plant Species Living Under P Limitation Show Signs of Greater Resistance to Drought. Issue 7 (5th April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yi, Ruzhou; Xu, Xianli; Huang, Yuanyuan; Zhu, Shidan; Xu, Chaohao; Zhang, Yaohua
• Is Part Of: Geophysical research letters. Volume 49:Issue 7(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-04-05
• Subjects: ecohydrology -- climate change -- leaf economic spectrum -- hydraulic risk -- nutrient limitation -- drought‐induced tree mortality -- N and P availability; Geophysics -- Periodicals; Planets -- Periodicals; Lunar geology -- Periodicals; 550
• DOI: 10.1029/2021GL096686
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0094-8276

Abstract

Abstract: Tropical forests are fundamental in the global water and carbon cycles, yet they are under threat of drought induced mortality. Tropical forests typically grow in phosphorus (P) pool soils. Through compiling data from tropical forests around the world, we showed that multiple tropical species acclimated to P deficiency have a higher hydraulic safety margin, which means they are less vulnerable to hydraulic failure. Through detailed experiments in subtropical China, we further uncovered the underlying mechanism is that species acclimated to P deficiency would have higher the stem area: leaf area ratio and strengthening vessel wall reinforcement. Our finding highlights the importance of including P availability into models when forecast the mortality risk of tropical forest in response to climate changes. Plain Language Summary: Tropical forests are critical components of our Earth system, yet more frequent drought events have caused widespread tree mortality in this region. In the meantime, tropical forests long suffer from phosphorus (P) deficient which limits their productivity and growth rate. Although number of studies have already focused on drought or low nutrient effects, how the two limiting factors together affect tree physiology is still absent. By compiling global published literature complemented with a detailed field experiment, this study provides solid evidence that tropical species acclimated to P deficiency have a higher hydraulic safety margin, and the underlying mechanism is that species acclimated to P deficiency would have higher the stem area: leaf area ratio and strengthening vessel wall reinforcement. This study implies that the nutrition availability should be adequately considered to assess the vulnerability of forests to drought under future climate change. Key Points: Plants acclimation to phosphorus (P) deficiency suffered from less hydraulic risk Plants acclimation to P deficiency suffered from less hydraulic risk related to higher vessel wall reinforcement (t/b) Plants acclimation to P deficiency suffered from less hydraulic risk related to higher sapwood: leaf area ratio Huber value (HV)