Functional traits and water transport strategies in lowland tropical rainforest trees

Apgaua, DMG; Ishida, FY; Tng, DYP; Laidlaw, MJ; Santos, RM; Rumman, R; Eamus, D; Holtum, JAM; Laurance, SGW

Functional traits and water transport strategies in lowland tropical rainforest trees

Apgaua, DMG Ishida, FY Tng, DYP Laidlaw, MJ Santos, RM Rumman, R Eamus, D

Holtum, JAM Laurance, SGW

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: PLoS ONE, 2015, 10 (6)
Issue Date:: 2015-06-18

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Apgaua, DMG	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Ishida, FY	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Tng, DYP	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Laidlaw, MJ	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Santos, RM	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Rumman, R	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Eamus, D https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2765-8040	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Holtum, JAM	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Laurance, SGW	en_US
dc.date.available	2015-05-26	en_US
dc.date.issued	2015-06-18	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	PLoS ONE, 2015, 10 (6)	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36782
dc.description.abstract	© 2015 Apgaua et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Understanding how tropical rainforest trees may respond to the precipitation extremes predicted in future climate change scenarios is paramount for their conservation and management. Tree species clearly differ in drought susceptibility, suggesting that variable water transport strategies exist. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we examined the hydraulic variability in trees in a lowland tropical rainforest in north-eastern Australia. We studied eight tree species representing broad plant functional groups (one palm and seven eudicot mature-phase, and early-successional trees). We characterised the species' hydraulic system through maximum rates of volumetric sap flow and velocities using the heat ratio method, and measured rates of tree growth and several stem, vessel, and leaf traits. Sap flow measures exhibited limited variability across species, although early-successional species and palms had high mean sap velocities relative to most mature-phase species. Stem, vessel, and leaf traits were poor predictors of sap flow measures. However, these traits exhibited different associations in multivariate analysis, revealing gradients in some traits across species and alternative hydraulic strategies in others. Trait differences across and within tree functional groups reflect variation in water transport and drought resistance strategies. These varying strategies will help in our understanding of changing species distributions under predicted drought scenarios.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	PLoS ONE	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1371/journal.pone.0130799	en_US
dc.subject.classification	General Science & Technology	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Plant Leaves	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Plant Stems	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Trees	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Water	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Tropical Climate	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Plant Transpiration	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Models, Biological	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Australia	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Droughts	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Climate Change	en_US
dc.subject.mesh	Rainforest	en_US
dc.title	Functional traits and water transport strategies in lowland tropical rainforest trees	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	6	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	10	en_US
utslib.for	0602 Ecology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Life Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	6	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	10	en_US

Abstract:

© 2015 Apgaua et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Understanding how tropical rainforest trees may respond to the precipitation extremes predicted in future climate change scenarios is paramount for their conservation and management. Tree species clearly differ in drought susceptibility, suggesting that variable water transport strategies exist. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we examined the hydraulic variability in trees in a lowland tropical rainforest in north-eastern Australia. We studied eight tree species representing broad plant functional groups (one palm and seven eudicot mature-phase, and early-successional trees). We characterised the species' hydraulic system through maximum rates of volumetric sap flow and velocities using the heat ratio method, and measured rates of tree growth and several stem, vessel, and leaf traits. Sap flow measures exhibited limited variability across species, although early-successional species and palms had high mean sap velocities relative to most mature-phase species. Stem, vessel, and leaf traits were poor predictors of sap flow measures. However, these traits exhibited different associations in multivariate analysis, revealing gradients in some traits across species and alternative hydraulic strategies in others. Trait differences across and within tree functional groups reflect variation in water transport and drought resistance strategies. These varying strategies will help in our understanding of changing species distributions under predicted drought scenarios.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36782