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Dry-forest tree species with large seeds and low stem specific density show greater survival under drought

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2019

Lalitha Krishnan ,
Deepak Barua  and
Mahesh Sankaran
Lalitha Krishnan*
Affiliation:
National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bangalore 560065, India
Deepak Barua
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune 411008, India
Mahesh Sankaran
Affiliation:
National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bangalore 560065, India School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
*
*Email: lalithak@ncbs.res.in
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Abstract

Tree establishment in tropical dry forests is constrained by drought-related seedling mortality during early stages of recruitment. Predicted increases in the duration of growing-season droughts in the future pose a significant threat to these ecosystems that could significantly alter their vegetation structure and composition. Here, we examined drought tolerance in seedlings of seven common dry-forest tree species from the Indian subcontinent. We conducted a dry-down experiment on 3-wk-old seedlings, and asked whether the key plant functional traits, specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), seed size and stem specific density (SSD) were good predictors of seedling growth under well-watered conditions, and survival during drought. Seedlings displayed substantial drought tolerance with most seedlings surviving for more than 2 wk under protracted drought. Seed size in combination with SLA predicted seedling growth under well-watered conditions and seed size predicted survival under drought. In contrast to our expectations, seedlings with lower SSD survived for longer without water. Our results suggest that dry-forest species will be differentially affected by the predicted increases in the duration of growing-season droughts, and detrimental effects will be more severe for species with smaller seeds.

Keywords

Climate changedroughtgrowthseed sizespecific leaf area (SLA)stem specific density (SSD)
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 26 - 33
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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