RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Physiological responses to drought stress and recovery reflect differences in leaf function and anatomy among grass lineages
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.07.30.502130
DO 10.1101/2022.07.30.502130
A1 Seton Bachle
A1 Marissa Zaricor
A1 Daniel Griffith
A1 Fan Qui
A1 Christopher J Still
A1 Mark C Ungerer
A1 Jesse B Nippert
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/08/01/2022.07.30.502130.abstract
AB Grasses are cosmopolitan, existing in many biome and climate types from xeric to tropical. Traits that control physiological responses to drought vary strongly among grass lineages, suggesting that tolerance strategies may differ with evolutionary history. Here, we withheld water from 12 species representing six tribes of grasses to compare how species respond to drought in different grass lineages. We measured physiological, morphological, and anatomical traits. Dominant lineages from tropical savannas, like Andropogoneae, tolerated drought due to above and belowground morphological traits (specific leaf area and root length, SLA and SRL), while temperate grasses in this study utilized conservative leaf physiology (gas exchange) and anatomy traits. Increased intrinsic water-use efficiency coincided with a larger number of stomata, resulting in greater water loss (with inherently greater carbon gain) and increased drought sensitivity. Inherent leaf and root economic strategies impacting drought response were observed in all species, resulting in either high SLA or SRL, but not both. Our results indicate that grasses subjected to severe drought were influenced by anatomical traits (e.g., number of stomata and xylem area) and similar within lineages. In addition, grasses recovered at least 50% of physiological functioning across all lineages and 92% within Andropogoneae species, illustrating how drought can influence functional responses across diverse grass lineages.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.