Changes in hydraulic traits of nine vascular plants from different evolutionary lineages

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2017.0258

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims As vascular plants evolve from ferns to gymnosperms and angiosperms, their physiological structures and functions are assumed more adaptable to arid environment. Whether the three plant groups from early to late evolved lineages have improved their water transport and use efficiency has been studied on the basis of the morphological structure of leaf veins and stomata.Moreover, the water transportation rate was directly measured in the angiosperms. Therefore, we measured structural and functional traits related to water relations in all three plant groups simultaneously, to test the hypothesis on the evolutionary process of plant hydraulics.

Methods We selected three species in each group grown in South China Botanical Garden, Guangzhou, China, including ferns (Dicranopteris pedata, Cyclosorus parasiticus and Blechnum orientale), gymnosperms (Podocarpus macrophyllus, Podocarpus nagi and Taxodium distichum) and angiosperms (Manglietia fordiana var. hainanensis, Sindora tonkinensis and Bauhinia purpurea).

Important findings Sapwood and leaf specific hydraulic conductivities (K_S and K_L, respectively), and leaf conductance (K_leaf) significantly increased from ferns, gymnosperms to angiosperms. However, no significant trends were found in transpiration rate (E) and intrinsic water use efficiency. Meanwhile, neither the size and density of stomata nor wood density showed significant difference among three plant groups. The hydraulic functional traits (K_S, K_Land K_leaf) had significantly positive correlations with each other, but had no relationships with the two measured structural traits. Phylogenetic independent contrasts analyses showed that the coordination between K_S and K_leaf, and between K_S and E were independent of the phylogeny. Based on the nine vascular species, this study demonstrated that water transport related traits are improved as vascular plants evolved, and the co-evolution between water transport and transpiration traits were identified. For further study, it is necessary to consolidate our data with investigations of more detailed water-transport structures in more species from different evolutionary lineages.

Key words: functional traits, adaptation, water transport, phylogenetic independent contrast, correlated evolution

ZHAOLe-Wen, CHEN Zi-Yi, ZOU Ying, FU Zi-Zhao, WU Gui-Lin, LIU Xiao-Rong, LUO Qi, LIN Yi-Xue, LI Xiong-Ju, LIU Zhi-Tong, LIU Hui. Changes in hydraulic traits of nine vascular plants from different evolutionary lineages[J]. Chin J Plan Ecolo, 2018, 42(2): 220-228.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2017.0258

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2018/V42/I2/220

Figures/Tables 5

Table 1 Summary of the nine species from three evolutionary lineages in this study

	物种 Species	缩略词 Abbreviation	科 Family
蕨类植物 Ferns	芒萁 Dicranopteris pedata	Dp	里白科 Gleicheniaceae
	华南毛蕨 Cyclosorus parasiticus	Cp	金星蕨科 Thelypteridaceae
	乌毛蕨 Blechnum orientale	Bo	乌毛蕨科 Blechnaceae
裸子植物 Gymnosperms	罗汉松 Podocarpus macrophyllus	Pm	罗汉松科 Podocarpaceae
	竹柏 Podocarpus nagi	Pn	罗汉松科 Podocarpaceae
	落羽杉 Taxodium distichum	Td	杉科 Taxodiaceae
被子植物 Angiosperms	海南木莲 Manglietia fordiana var. hainanensis	Mh	木兰科 Magnoliaceae
	东京油楠 Sindora tonkinensis	St	豆科 Fabaceae
	羊蹄甲 Bauhinia purpurea	Bp	豆科 Fabaceae

Fig. 1 Comparison of sapwood-specific hydraulic conductivity (KS), leaf-specific hydraulic conductivity (KL) and leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) among the nine species from three evolutionary lineages (mean ± SE, n = 3-5). Letters on top of each bar in the right column are HSD multiple comparison results, the phylogenetic tree of the nine species is drawn at the bottom. See species abbrivations in Table 1. Fern, ferns; Gym, gynosperms; Ang, angiosperms.

Fig. 2 Comparison of leaf transpiration rate (E) and intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi) among the nine species from three evolutionary lineages (mean ± SE, n = 3-5). Notes are the same with Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 Comparison of stomatal area index (SPI) and wood density (WD) among the nine species from three evolutionary lineages (mean ± SE, n = 3-5). Notes are the same with Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 Correlations between sapwood-specific hydraulic conductivity (KS) and leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf)(A, B), and leaf transpiration rate (E)(C, D) among the nine species from three evolutionary lineages. A, C, traditional cross-species correlations; B, D, correlations among phylogenetically independent contrasts. In A and C, data are mean ± SE (n = 3-5), Pearson correlation coefficients (r) and p values are reported.

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