From growth potential to drought survival: a trait- and time-based framework for plant water economics across vascular species

A framework of traits and strategies for drought adaptation is critical for understanding the effects of climate change on plant communities. We built a three-phase physiological model incorporating plant traits and time as a gradient of decreasing water availability, which allowed the identification of traits involved in maximizing growth potential (Phase I), growth/turgor maintenance during drought (Phase II), or survival after growth cessation (Phase III). Modelling plant water use for several species revealed a trade-off between water use in Phases I–II (water acquisition associated with tissue dehydration avoidance) and Phase III duration (water conservation associated with water storage capacity and/or tissue dehydration/desiccation tolerance). This trade-off underpins a novel framework of plant water use economics among and within species. As growth potential and growth/turgor maintenance trade-off with drought survival duration, a time-informed framework considering the balance between productivity and drought resilience is required in plant growth models and in breeding efforts for plant drought adaptation.

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