Functional traits and their plasticity shift from tolerant to avoidant under extreme drought

0565766 - BÚ 2023 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Kramp, R. E. - Liancourt, Pierre - Herberich, M. M. - Saul, L. - Weides, S. - Tielboerger, K. - Májeková, M.
Functional traits and their plasticity shift from tolerant to avoidant under extreme drought.
Ecology. Roč. 103, č. 12 (2022), č. článku e3826. ISSN 0012-9658. E-ISSN 1939-9170
Institutional support: RVO:67985939
Keywords : climate change * climate extremes * drought intensity * drought resistance strategies * grasslands * leaf area * leaf dry matter content * rainout shelters * turgor loss point
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 4.8, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3826

Under climate change, extreme droughts will limit water availability for plants. However, the species-specific responses make it difficult to draw general conclusions. We hypothesized that changes in species' abundance in response to extreme drought can be best explained by a set of water economic traits under ambient conditions in combination with the ability to adjust these traits towards higher drought resistance. We conducted a 4-year field experiment in temperate grasslands using rainout shelters with 30% and 50% rainfall reduction. We quantified the response as the change in species abundance between ambient conditions and the rainfall reduction. Abundance response to extreme drought was best explained by a combination of traits in ambient conditions and their functional adjustment, most likely reflecting plasticity. Smaller leaved species decreased less in abundance under drought. With increasing drought intensity, we observed a shift from drought tolerance, i.e., an increase in leaf dry matter content, to avoidance, i.e., a less negative turgor loss point (TLP) in ambient conditions and a constancy in TLP under drought. We stress the importance of using a multidimensional approach of variation in multiple traits and the importance of considering a range of drought intensities to improve predictions of species' response to climate change.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0339420