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Adaptation and coordinated evolution of plant hydraulic traits.
  • +2
  • Pablo Sanchez-Martinez,
  • Jordi Martinez-Vilalta,
  • Kyle Dexter,
  • Ricardo Segovia,
  • Maurizio Mencuccini
Pablo Sanchez-Martinez
CREAF

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Jordi Martinez-Vilalta
CREAF
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Kyle Dexter
University of Edinburgh Department of Geology and of Geophysics
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Ricardo Segovia
University of Edinburgh Department of Geology and of Geophysics
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Maurizio Mencuccini
Institucio Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avancats
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Abstract

Hydraulic properties control plant responses to climate and are likely to be under strong selective pressure, but their macro-evolutionary history remains poorly characterized. We compiled a global dataset of hydraulic traits describing xylem efficiency, xylem safety, sapwood allocation relative to leaf area and drought exposure and matched it with a newly derived genus-level phylogeny to shed light on woody-plant hydraulic eco-evolutionary patterns. All hydraulic traits present medium to high levels of phylogenetic signal, being evolutionarily segregated into two phylogenetically conserved adaptive modules: the safety-exposure coordination, whereby lineages exposed to drought adapted to withstand low water potentials by evolving a xylem with higher embolism resistance; and the efficiency-allocation coordination, whereby higher water availability and deeper, water-retentive soils led to the evolution of hydraulically efficient species with higher leaf area relative to sapwood area. Moreover, the lack of evolutionary correlation between xylem safety and efficiency suggest that both adaptive modules are independent.
03 Mar 2020Submitted to Ecology Letters
04 Mar 2020Submission Checks Completed
04 Mar 2020Assigned to Editor
10 Mar 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
15 Apr 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
21 Apr 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Major
19 Jun 20201st Revision Received
19 Jun 2020Submission Checks Completed
19 Jun 2020Assigned to Editor
23 Jun 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
02 Jul 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
08 Jul 2020Editorial Decision: Accept