Hydraulic Safety Mechanisms Override Traditional Wood Economics in Hyper-Arid Environments.

ABSTRACT: Environmental stress drives plant communities toward conservative ecological strategies through increased wood density (WD) within the Wood Economics Spectrum (WES). However, hyper-arid regions like the Coastal Atacama Desert (CAD) challenge this pattern, where woody plants exhibit acquisitive traits and decreased WD with increasing aridity. The underlying anatomical mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study examined how extreme aridity in the CAD shapes wood economics strategies, testing whether anatomical changes prioritize hydraulic safety over efficiency within the WES. Six shrub communities along an aridity gradient were sampled, measuring composition and abundance of 29 species across 20 plots per site. Community-weighted means of eight wood traits-including WD, vessel density/

SUBMITTER: Rios RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12429929 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature