Irrigated urban trees exhibit greater functional trait plasticity compared to natural stands.

ABSTRACT: Urbanization creates novel ecosystems comprised of species assemblages and environments with no natural analogue. Moreover, irrigation can alter plant function compared to non-irrigated systems. However, the capacity of irrigation to alter functional trait patterns across multiple species is unknown but may be important for the dynamics of urban ecosystems. We evaluated the hypothesis that urban irrigation influences plasticity in functional traits by measuring carbon-gain and water-use traits of 30 tree species planted in Southern California, USA spanning a coastal-to-desert gradient. Tree species respond to irrigation through increasing the carbon-gain trait relationship of leaf nitrogen per specific leaf area compared to their native habitat. Moreover, most species shift to a water-use

SUBMITTER: Ibsen PC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9810417 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature