Co-ordination between xylem anatomy, plant architecture and leaf functional traits in response to abiotic and biotic drivers in a nurse cushion plant.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Plants in dry Mediterranean mountains experience a double climatic stress: at low elevations, high temperatures coincide with water shortage during summer, while at high elevations temperature decreases and water availability increases. Cushion plants often act as nurses by improving the microclimate underneath their canopies, hosting beneficiary species that may reciprocally modify their benefactors' microenvironment. We assess how the nurse cushion plant Arenaria tetraquetra subsp. amabilis adjusts its hydraulic system to face these complex abiotic and biotic constraints.

Methods

We evaluated intra-specific variation and co-ordination of stem xylem anatomy, leaf functional traits and plant architecture in response to elevation, aspect and the presence o

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Cervigon AI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8225275 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature