Plasticity in leaf-level water relations of tropical rainforest trees in response to experimental drought.

ABSTRACT: The tropics are predicted to become warmer and drier, and understanding the sensitivity of tree species to drought is important for characterizing the risk to forests of climate change. This study makes use of a long-term drought experiment in the Amazon rainforest to evaluate the role of leaf-level water relations, leaf anatomy and their plasticity in response to drought in six tree genera. The variables (osmotic potential at full turgor, turgor loss point, capacitance, elastic modulus, relative water content and saturated water content) were compared between seasons and between plots (control and through-fall exclusion) enabling a comparison between short- and long-term plasticity in traits. Leaf anatomical traits were correlated with water relation parameters to determine whether water

SUBMITTER: Binks O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5071722 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature