Premium
Adaptation and coordinated evolution of plant hydraulic traits
Author(s) -
SanchezMartinez Pablo,
MartínezVilalta Jordi,
Dexter Kyle G.,
Segovia Ricardo A.,
Mencuccini Maurizio
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.13584
Subject(s) - xylem , biology , adaptation (eye) , phylogenetic tree , ecology , lineage (genetic) , resistance (ecology) , plant evolution , evolutionary dynamics , evolutionary biology , phylogenetic comparative methods , hydraulic conductivity , botany , gene , genome , genetics , population , demography , neuroscience , sociology , soil water
Hydraulic properties control plant responses to climate and are likely to be under strong selective pressure, but their macro‐evolutionary history remains poorly characterised. To fill this gap, we compiled a global dataset of hydraulic traits describing xylem conductivity ( K s ), xylem resistance to embolism (P50), sapwood allocation relative to leaf area (Hv) and drought exposure (ψ min ), and matched it with global seed plant phylogenies. Individually, these traits present medium to high levels of phylogenetic signal, partly related to environmental selective pressures shaping lineage evolution. Most of these traits evolved independently of each other, being co‐selected by the same environmental pressures. However, the evolutionary correlations between P50 and ψ min and between K s and Hv show signs of deeper evolutionary integration because of functional, developmental or genetic constraints, conforming to evolutionary modules. We do not detect evolutionary integration between conductivity and resistance to embolism, rejecting a hardwired trade‐off for this pair of traits.