Predicting habitat affinities of herbaceous dicots to soil wetness based on physiological traits of drought tolerance.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Soil water availability is an important mechanism filtering plant species but the functional basis of this filtering in herbaceous dicots is poorly studied. The authors address three questions: Which physiological traits best predict different levels of drought tolerance or avoidance in herbaceous dicots? To what degree can species' habitat preferences along the gradient of soil moisture availability be predicted by their physiological responses to drought? What are the direct and indirect relationships between the physiological traits and how do they interact to determine the species' habitat preferences?

Methods

Twenty-five species of herbaceous dicots whose field distributions span a gradient of soil moisture from continually moist to dry were chosen.

SUBMITTER: Belluau M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5604612 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature