Changes in water and nitrogen availability can affect the structure and function of arid ecosystems. How these resources affect aboveground primary productivity (ANPP) remains far from clear. We examined the N and water limitation of ANPP from the species to the community level and the response of ANPP to annual precipitation in a Patagonian steppe. We conducted a 7-year field experiment with water addition (+W), nitrogen addition (+N), and +NW. Destructive methods for grasses and allometric relationships for shrubs were used to assess ANPP and vegetation indices (NDVI and MSAVI2) to estimate community ANPP. An increase in ANPP of one grass species ( Papposstipa humilis) and a decrease of the grass Poa ligularis under +N were observed. Some shrubs species exhibited mortality under nitrogen addition. Nitrogen exerted a positive effect on grass ANPP and amplified the sensitivity of grass ANPP to annual precipitation. However, +N had not effects on the shrub ANPP and shrub ANPP-precipitation relationship. Water addition by itself had no effect on ANPP for either shrubs or grasses. However, shrubs responded positively to an unusually wet year regardless of treatment and were also more sensitive to changes in annual precipitation than grasses. Total ANPP increased significantly in +N relative to the C and +W, but without changes in the sensitivity to annual precipitation. The results suggest that the responses of grasses and shrubs to water inputs is driven by soil moisture redistribution and rooting depth and that grass and community ANPP is more limited by N than by water.

Stored water in inner tissues can affect plant water balance and its freezing resistance. We studied the water storages in the inner bark and sapwood of Araucaria araucana, a species with thick inner bark. Specifically, we analyzed its daily behavior, the driving force to radial water movement and its freezing resistance. The whole-stem water content and diameter and sap flow increased in the morning and decreased in the afternoon. An osmotic gradient between stem tissues was involved in the morning water storage recharge. There were no lags in the onset of sap flow between different stem positions, however sap flow at 6m height was higher than basal sap flow in the afternoon, at the time that sapwood water content started to decline followed by the inner bark. Extracellular freezing was delayed down to -6˚C in the inner bark and to -8˚C in the leaves. The unusual diurnal pattern of internal water use may enhance freezing resistance as a consequence of the lower water content and higher osmotic potential when the lowest temperatures occur. The contribution of stem tissues to daily water use and the pattern of ice nucleation observed make this species less susceptible to drought and very low temperatures.