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Contrasting shrub and grass hydraulic responses to experimental drought

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Abstract

Whole-plant hydraulics provide important information about responses to water limitation and can be used to understand how plant communities may change in a drier climate when measured on multiple species. Here, we measured above- and belowground hydraulic traits in Cornus drummondii, an encroaching shrub within North American tallgrass prairies, and Andropogon gerardii, a dominant C4 grass, to assess the potential hydraulic responses to future drought as this region undergoes woody expansion. Shelters that reduced precipitation by 50% and 0% were built over shrubs and grasses growing in sites that are burned at 1-year and 4-year frequencies. We then measured aboveground (Kshoot), belowground (Kroot), and whole-plant maximum hydraulic conductance (Kplant) in C. drummondii and Kroot in A. gerardii. We also measured vulnerability to embolism (P50) in C. drummondii stems. Overall, we show that: (1) A. gerardii had substantially greater Kroot than C. drummondii; (2) belowground hydraulic functioning was linked with aboveground processes; (3) above- and belowground C. drummondii hydraulics were not negatively impacted by the rainfall reductions imposed here. These results suggest that a multi-year drought will not ameliorate rates of woody expansion and highlight key differences in aboveground and belowground hydraulics for dominant species within the same ecosystem.

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Data used in this study are available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Greg Tooley and Emily Wedel for assisting with sample collection, and Rick Meinzer for assistance with the HPFM. The Konza Prairie Biological Station provided logistical support and the maintenance of the long-term fire and grazing treatments.

Funding

Funding was provided by the Department of Energy Terrestrial Ecosystem Science Award DESC0019037, Konza Prairie LTER Program (NSF DEB 1440484 and 2025849) the School of Natural Sciences at St. Edward’s University, the Division of Biology at Kansas State University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters and Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, St. Edward’s University, Austin, TX, 78704, USA

    Kimberly O’Keefe

  2. Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Kimberly O’Keefe & Katherine A. McCulloh

  3. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Jesse B. Nippert & Rachel M. Keen

  4. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Kansas Biological Survey, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66047, USA

    Rachel M. Keen

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  1. Kimberly O’Keefe
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  2. Jesse B. Nippert
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  4. Katherine A. McCulloh
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All authors conceived the ideas and designed the methodology. KO and RK collected the data. KO analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts.

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Correspondence to Kimberly O’Keefe.

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Communicated by Arthur Gessler.

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O’Keefe, K., Nippert, J.B., Keen, R.M. et al. Contrasting shrub and grass hydraulic responses to experimental drought. Oecologia (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-024-05543-w

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