Considerable variation in embolism resistance in a temperate forest driven by anatomy.
Rimer IM, Kane CN, Yan D, Paudel I, Dukes JS
Climate Adaptation
The oaks, maples, and hickories in your local woodland aren't equally tough in a dry summer—some are quietly teetering on the edge of hydraulic failure while others shrug it off, and knowing which is which could reshape how we plant and restore forests as droughts intensify.
When plants dry out, air bubbles can form in their water-conducting tubes and cut off the flow like an air lock in a pipe—this is called embolism, and it can kill a tree. Scientists tested 14 common forest trees to see how well each resists this failure, and found big differences between species. Surprisingly, trees with ring-like wood patterns (like oaks) handled drought better than trees with more evenly spread wood (like maples), which flips what earlier studies had suggested.
Key Findings
Ring-porous species (e.g., oaks) were significantly more embolism resistant than diffuse-porous species (e.g., maples), contradicting findings from previous community-level studies.
Embolism resistance (P50) was best predicted by xylem connectivity and the xylem-to-leaf-area ratio, not vessel diameter or lumen fraction as commonly assumed.
Vulnerability segmentation between leaves and stems was minimal across all 14 species, meaning leaves and stems tended to fail at similar drought thresholds rather than leaves acting as a protective 'sacrificial' buffer.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers measured drought survival traits across 14 native deciduous tree species in a North American hardwood forest, finding that how water-conducting wood is structured—not just vessel size—predicts which trees are most vulnerable to hydraulic failure during drought.
Abstract Preview
Embolism resistance is a key trait that determines plant survival during drought. While much attention has been directed toward understanding embolism resistance within individual species, research...
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