2014/01/01 by Kashif Hussain, Defu Wang, Asif Riaz +7 · 1 voice
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Engineering · Environmental Science · #Aerospace Engineering and Control Systems #Aerospace and Aviation Technology #Guidance and Control Systems #Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance #Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics #Plant responses to water stress
paper · doi:10.1007/s11120-024-01110-9
openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Changes in rainfall patterns are important environmental factors affecting plant growth, especially when larger precipitation events and prolonged drought periods occur in subtropical regions. There are many studies on how drought reduces plant biomass through drought-sensitive functional traits, but how excess water affects plant growth and ecophysiology is still poorly understood. Therefore, a greenhouse experiment was conducted on Schima superba (Theaceae), a dominant tree species in subtropical forests and commonly used in forestry, in a closed chamber under control (25% soil water content (SWC) as in local forests), drought stress (D, 15% SWC) and moisture stress (W, 35% SWC). Plant growth and ecophysiological traits related to morphology, leaf gas exchange, water potential and structural traits were measured. Compared to control, S. suberba under dry conditions significantly decreased its aboveground biomass, photosynthetic rate (A), leaf water potential and nitrogen use efficiency, but increased intrinsic water use efficiency, root to shoot ratio and specific root length. S. superba under wet conditions also significantly decreased its total biomass, aboveground biomass and specific root length, while W had no effect on A and leaf water potential. Our results indicate that S. superba shows a decrease in carbon gain under drought stress, but less response under wet conditions. This emphasizes the need to consider the strength and frequency of rainfall pattern changes in future studies because rainfall may either alleviate or intensify the effects of drought stress depending on the moisture level, thus suitable water conditions is important for better management of this tree species in subtropical China.