RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Gas exchange at whole plant level shows that a less conservative water use is linked to a higher performance in three ecologically distinct pine species
A1 Salazar-Tortosa, Diego
A1 Castro, Jorge
A1 Rubio de Casas , R.
A1 Viñegla-Pérez, Benjamín
A1 Sánchez-Cañete , E.P.
A1 Villar Salvador, Pedro
K1 Air evaporative demand
K1 Climatic change
K1 European pines
K1 Gas exchange
K1 Hotter drought
K1 Stomatal conductance
K1 Transient-state closed chamber
K1 Medio Ambiente
K1 Environmental science
AB Increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation in large areas of the planet as a consequence of global warming will affect plant growth and survival. However, the impact of climatic conditions will differ across species depending on their stomatal response to increasing aridity, as this will ultimately affect the balance between carbon assimilation and water loss. In this study, we monitored gas exchange, growth and survival in saplings of three widely distributed European pine species (Pinus halepensis, P. nigra and P. sylvestris) with contrasting distribution and ecological requirements in order to ascertain the relationship between stomatal control and plant performance. The experiment was conducted in a common garden environment resembling rainfall and temperature conditions that two of the three species are expected to encounter in the near future. In addition, gas exchange was monitored both at the leaf and at the whole-plant level using a transient-state closed chamber, which allowed us to model the response of the whole plant to increased air evaporative demand (AED). P. sylvestris was the species with lowest survival and performance. By contrast, P. halepensis showed no mortality, much higher growth (two orders of magnitude), carbon assimilation (ca. 14 fold higher) and stomatal conductance and water transpiration (ca. 4 fold higher) than the other two species. As a consequence, P. halepensis exhibited higher values of water-use efficiency than the rest of the species even at the highest values of AED. Overall, the results strongly support that the weaker stomatal control of P. halepensis, which is linked to lower stem water potential, enabled this species to maximize carbon uptake under drought stress and ultimately outperform the more water conservative P. nigra and P. sylvestris.These results suggest that under a hotter drought scenarioP. nigra and P. sylvestris would very likely suffer increased mortality, whereas P. halepensis couldmaintain gas exchange and avoid water-induced growth limitation. This might ultimately foster anexpansion of P. halepensis to higher latitudes and elevations.
SN 1748-9318
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10017/35801
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10017/35801
LA eng
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
DS MINDS@UW
RD 16-abr-2024