Leaf gas exchange measurements provide an important tool for inferring a plant’s photosynthetic biochemistry. In most cases, the responses of photosynthetic CO 2 assimilation to variable intercellular CO 2 concentrations ( A/ Ci response curves) are used to model the maximum rate of carboxylation by ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco, V cmax) and the rate of electron transport at a given photosynthetically active radiation (PAR; J PAR). The standard Farquhar-Von Caemmerer-Berry model is typically used with default parameters of Rubisco kinetic values and mesophyll conductance to CO 2 ( g m) derived from tobacco that impairs analytical reliability across species. To study this, here we measured the temperature responses of key in vitro Rubisco catalytic properties and g m in cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum cv. Sicot 71) and derived V cmax and J 2000 ( J at 2000 µmol m -2 s -1 PAR) from cotton A/ Ci curves incrementally measured at 15°C to 40°C using cotton and tobacco parameters with our new automated fitting R package ‘OptiFitACi’. When applied to cotton, the tobacco parameters produced unrealistic J 2000: V cmax ratio of <1 at 25°C, two- to three-fold higher estimates of V cmax, approximately 50% higher estimates of J 2000 and more variable estimates of V cmax and J 2000, compared to model parameterisation with cotton-derived values. We determined that errors arise when using a g m of 0.23 mol m -2 s -1 bar -1 or below and Rubisco CO 2-affinities under ambient O 2 ( K C 21%O2) outside 461 µbar to 627 µbar to model A/ C i responses in cotton. We show how the multi- A/ C i modelling capabilities of ‘OptiFitACi’ serves as a robust, user-friendly extension of ‘plantecophys’ by providing simplified temperature-sensitivity and species-specificity parameterisation capabilities to enable higher accuracy estimates of V cmax and J 2000.

Local adaptation is a major driver of biological diversity, and related species may develop analogous (parallel evolution) or alternative (divergent evolution) solutions to similar ecological challenges. We expect these adaptive solutions between closely related organisms would culminate in both phenotypic and genotypic signals. In this study, we employ a reciprocal transplant, glasshouse experiment with two Eucalyptus species ( E. grandis and E. tereticornis) with large, overlapping distributions grown under contrasting ‘local’ temperature conditions (tropic and temperate) to investigate the independent contribution of adaptation, plasticity, and their interaction at molecular, physiological and morphological levels. We find key traits differ in their response. The link between gene expression and traits markedly differed between species. Divergent evolution was the dominant pattern driving adaptation as unique gene responses (91% of all significant genes) was the greatest factor driving differentiation; but overlapping gene (homologous) responses were dependent on the determining factor (plastic, adaptive, or genotype by environment interaction). 98% of the plastic homologs were similarly regulated, while 50% of the adaptive homologs and 100% of the interaction homologs were antagonistically regulated. Therefore, parallel evolution for the adaptive effect in homologous genes was greater than expected but not in favour of divergent evolution. Further, heat shock proteins for E. grandis were almost entirely driven by adaptive responses, while plasticity drove the response in E. tereticornis. These results suggest divergent molecular evolutionary solutions dominated the adaptive mechanisms among species, even in similar ecological circumstances. Thus, trees with overlapping distributions are unlikely to equally persist in the future, suggesting that management of future forests to changing temperature conditions must be species specific.

Grassland responses to drought are strongly mediated by leaf phenology, with greening and browning being highly sensitive to soil moisture. However, this process is represented overly simplistically in most vegetation models, limiting their capacity to predict grassland responses to global change factors. We derive functions representing grassland phenological responses to soil water content (SWC), by fitting an empirical model to greenness data. Data were obtained from fixed cameras (phenocams) monitoring phenology at several grassland experiments in Sydney, Australia. The data-model synthesis showed that the sensitivity of growth to SWC exhibited a concave-down response in most species. For senescence, we found a strong nonlinear increase in senescence rate with declining SWC. Both findings contradict common assumptions in vegetation models. Incorporating nonlinear responses in the empirical model reduced the error in cover predictions by 12%. Model evaluation against data from drought treatments indicated that differential sensitivity of phenology to SWC helps explain differences among species’ responses to variable rainfall. Our work provides a new methodology, and new evidence, to support the development of improved representations of grassland phenology for vegetation models.

Phosphorus (P) is often one of the most limiting nutrients in highly weathered soils of humid tropical forests, which may regulate the responses of carbon (C) feedback to climate warming. Based on a 7-year continuous field warming experiment conducted by translocating microcosm forest ecosystems from a high-elevation site to low-elevation sites, we detected changes in the ecosystem P cycle in response to warming. We report that warming drives sustained plant P demand by increasing P uptake and thus decreasing foliar N:P. This increased plant P content is supplied by multiple processes including enhanced plant P resorption, soil P mineralization and dissolution without changing litter P mineralization and leachate P. These findings suggest that warming may alleviate initial P deficiency and/or limitation of plant growth and contribute to sustaining plant C fixation in these tropical forests.

It is easy to measure annual growth of a tree stem. It is hard to measure its daily growth. The reason for this difficulty is the microscopic scale and the need to separate processes that simultaneously result in reversible and irreversible stem expansion. Here we present a model that separates reversible from irreversible cell expansion. Our model is novel, because it explains reversible expansion as consequence of longitudinally and, importantly, radially transmitted changes of hydraulic and osmotic pressures in xylem and bark. To capture and quantify these changes, we manipulated daily stem growth by applying a phloem girdle to stems of 9-m tall trees. The model was informed by measurements of radial movement in stem tissues and sap flow before and after and positions below and above the girdle. Additional measurements of whole-crown fluxes of H2O and CO2, leaf water potentials, non-structural carbohydrates and respiration were used to document the physiological impacts of girdling. This work sheds new light on the role of radial transport processes underpinning daily growth of tree stems. The model helps explain diel patterns of stem growth in trees.

The mechanisms by which woody plants recover xylem hydraulic capacity after drought stress are not well understood, particularly with regard to the role of embolism refilling. We evaluated the recovery of xylem hydraulic capacity in young Eucalyptus saligna plants exposed to cycles of drought stress and rewatering. Plants were exposed to moderate and severe drought stress treatments, with recovery monitored at time intervals from 24 hrs to 6 months after rewatering. The percentage loss of xylem vessels due to embolism (PLV) was quantified at each time point using micro-computed tomography with stem water potential (Ψx) and whole plant transpiration (Eplant) measured prior to scans. Plants exposed to severe drought stress suffered high levels of embolism (47.38 ± 10.97 % PLV) and almost complete canopy loss. No evidence of embolism refilling was observed at 24 hrs, one week, or three weeks after rewatering despite rapid recovery in Ψx. Recovery of hydraulic capacity was achieved over a 6-month period by growth of new xylem tissue, with canopy leaf area and Eplant recovering over the same period. These findings indicate that E. saligna recovers slowly from severe drought stress, with potential for embolism to persist in the xylem for many months after rainfall.

Extreme drought conditions across the globe are impacting biodiversity with serious implications for the persistence of native species. However, quantitative data on drought tolerance is not available for diverse flora to inform conservation management. We quantified physiological drought tolerance in the diverse Hakea genus (Proteaceae) to test predictions based on climatic-origin, life history and functional traits. We sampled terminal branches of replicate plants of 16 species in a common garden. Xylem cavitation was induced in branches under varying water potential (tension) in a centrifuge and the tension generating 50% loss of conductivity (stem P50) was characterized as a metric for drought tolerance. The same branches were used to estimate plant functional traits, including wood density, specific leaf area, and Huber value (sap flow area to leaf area ratio). There was significant variation in stem P50 among species, which was negatively associated with the species climate-origin (rainfall and aridity). Drought tolerance did not differ among life histories; however, a drought avoidance strategy with terete leaf form and greater Huber value may be important for species to colonize and persist in the arid biome. Our findings will contribute to future prediction of species vulnerability to drought and adaptive management under climate change.

Assessing the impacts of climate change on cotton is essential for maintaining a stable fibre production in the future. Here, cotton plants (Gossypium hirsutum L.) were raised under two temperature regimes (28/18 oC and 32/22 oC) and their corresponding nocturnal warming (+4oC) scenarios (i.e. 28/22 oC and 32/26 oC), and subsequently exposed to two water (Well-watered and Water deficit) and heatwave treatments (Control and Heatwave). Warmer day growth temperatures increased growth rate and leaf carbon gain, but decreased aboveground biomass. Water treatment independently or interactive affected leaf physiology and yield with growth temperature, but these impacts were generally small. Nocturnal warming did not strongly alter leaf carbon balance and its impacts on biomass were thermal regime specific. Warm temperature preconditioning did not ameliorate the negative effects of heatwave on carbon gain, but biomass accumulation was less affected due to high resilience. Overall, both short- and long-term elevated daytime temperature decrease cotton yield, while nocturnal warming has limited capacity to buffer that impact. Moderate water deficit will not strongly reduce carbon gain and growth. Findings of this study improve the knowledge regarding the response of cotton plants to climate change and underscore the complexity of plant response to multiple environmental factors.