Hydraulic and photosynthetic co-ordination in seasonally dry tropical forest trees
2002
In the present study the linkage between hydraulic, photosynthetic
and phenological properties of tropical dry forest
trees were investigated. Seasonal patterns of stem-specific
conductivity (
K
SP
) described from 12 species, including
deciduous, brevi-deciduous and evergreen species, indicated
that only evergreen species were consistent in their
response to a dry-to-wet season transition. In contrast,
K
SP
in deciduous and brevi-deciduous species encompassed a
range of responses, from an insignificant increase in
K
SP
following rains in some species, to a nine-fold increase in
others. Amongst deciduous species, the minimum
K
SP
during
the dry season ranged from 6 to 56% of wet season
K
SP,
indicating in the latter case that a significant portion of the
xylem remained functional during the dry season. In all
species and all seasons, leaf-specific stem conductivity (
K
L
)
was strongly related to the photosynthetic capacity of the
supported foliage, although leaf photosynthesis became
saturated in species with high
K
L
. The strength of this correlation
was surprising given that much of the whole-plant
resistance appears to be in the leaves. Hydraulic capacity,
defined as the product of
K
L
and the soil–leaf water potential
difference, was strongly correlated with the photosynthetic
rate of foliage in the dry season, but only weakly
correlated in the wet season.
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