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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Coordination between water relations strategy and carbon investment in leaf and stem in six fruit tree species

Ismael Piña https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0696-9756 A , Marco Garrido-Salinas https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8424-0540 B * , Oscar Seguel C , Ismael Opazo D , Carlos Faúndez-Urbina E , Nicolás Verdugo-Vásquez F and Emilio Villalobos-Soublett G
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Programa de Magister en Manejo de Suelo y Aguas, Escuela de Postgrado Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

B Departamento de Agronomía, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Serena, Avenida La Paz 1108, Ovalle 1842646, Chile.

C Departamento de Ingeniería y Suelos, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas, Universidad de Chile, Avenida Santa Rosa 11315, La Pintana, Santiago 8820808, Chile.

D Plant Breeding Laboratory, Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Fruticultura (CEAF), Rengo 2940000, Chile.

E Escuela de Agronomía, Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas y de los Alimentos, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, San Francisco S/N, Quillota 2260000, Chile.

F Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIA Intihuasi, Colina San Joaquín s/n, La Serena, Chile.

G Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Silvoagropecuarias y Veterinarias, Campus Sur, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

* Correspondence to: marco.garrido@userena.cl

Handling Editor: Wieland Fricke

Functional Plant Biology 51, FP24008 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP24008
Submitted: 4 January 2024  Accepted: 2 August 2024  Published: 2 September 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

The water relation strategy is a key issue in climate change. Given the difficulty of determining water relations strategy, there is a need for simple traits with a solid theoretical basis to estimate it. Traits associated with resource allocation patterns along a ‘fast-slow’ plant economics spectrum are particularly compelling, reflecting trade-offs between growth rate and carbon allocation. Avocado (Persea americana), fig tree (Ficus carica), mandarin (Citrus reticulata), olive (Olea europaea), pomegranate (Punica granatum), and grapevine (Vitis vinifera) were characterised in terms of iso-anisohydric strategy through stomatal behaviour, water potential at the turgor loss point (TLP), and hydroscape area. Additionally, the association of these metrics with leaf mass per area (LMA) and wood density (WDen) was explored. We observed high coordination between LMA and WDen, and both traits were related to metrics of water relation strategy. More anisohydric species tended to invest more carbon per unit leaf area or unit stem volume, which has implications for hydraulic efficiency and water stress tolerance. WDen and TLP were the most powerful traits in estimating the water relation strategy for six fruit species. These traits are easy to measure, time-cost efficient, and appear central to coordinating multiple traits and behaviours along the water relations strategies.

Keywords: carbon economic spectrum, fruit trees, hydraulics, isohydrism, leaf mass per area, stomatal conductance, water potential, wood density.

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