Embolism resistance drives the distribution of Amazonian rainforest tree species along hydro‐topographic gradients
0106 biological sciences
Topography
Rainforest
Ecosystem Resilience
Physiology
Vulnerability
Environmental Indicator
Species Difference
functional ecology
01 natural sciences
Angiosperm
Magnoliophyta
Trees
Amazonia
Species Specificity
Xylem
Water Table
Drought Resistance
Tropical Forest
Water Availability
forest resilience
phosphorus
Phylogeny
hydrological niches
tropical forests
Forest Ecosystem
Environmental Gradient
drought vulnerability
Water
Phosphorus
P
15. Life on land
6. Clean water
Spatial Distribution
13. Climate action
Functional Change
Coexistence
Tree
water table
DOI:
10.1111/nph.15463
Publication Date:
2018-10-08T15:47:34Z
AUTHORS (15)
ABSTRACT
Summary
Species distribution is strongly driven by local and global gradients in water availability but the underlying mechanisms are not clear. Vulnerability to xylem embolism (P50) is a key trait that indicates how species cope with drought and might explain plant distribution patterns across environmental gradients. Here we address its role on species sorting along a hydro‐topographical gradient in a central Amazonian rainforest and examine its variance at the community scale.
We measured P50 for 28 tree species, soil properties and estimated the hydrological niche of each species using an indicator of distance to the water table (HAND).
We found a large hydraulic diversity, covering as much as 44% of the global angiosperm variation in P50. We show that P50: contributes to species segregation across a hydro‐topographic gradient in the Amazon, and thus to species coexistence; is the result of repeated evolutionary adaptation within closely related taxa; is associated with species tolerance to P‐poor soils, suggesting the evolution of a stress‐tolerance syndrome to nutrients and drought; and is higher for trees in the valleys than uplands.
The large observed hydraulic diversity and its association with topography has important implications for modelling and predicting forest and species resilience to climate change.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL
Coming soon ....
REFERENCES (65)
CITATIONS (139)
EXTERNAL LINKS
PlumX Metrics
RECOMMENDATIONS
FAIR ASSESSMENT
Coming soon ....
JUPYTER LAB
Coming soon ....