Homeostasis of respiration under drought and its important consequences for foliar carbon balance in a drier climate: insights from two contrasting Acacia species

Under drought, when photosynthesis (A) is impaired, foliar respiration (R) becomes crucial to estimate plant carbonbalance.However,theeffectsofdroughtonRremainunclearandlittleisknownaboutdifferencesbetweencongeners with divergent anatomy. In this study we compared the physiological response to imposed drought in plants of two Acacia species:AcaciapycnanthaBenth.andAcacia floribunda(Vent.)Willd.inacontrolledenvironment.Wesubjectedhalfofthe plants to two desiccation cycles. Relative water content (RWC), the ratio of variable to maximum fluorescence (Fv/Fm), phyllode dark respiration (Rdark), stomatal conductance to water (gs), light-saturated photosynthesis (Asat) were monitored. Drought significantly reduced RWC, gs, Fv/Fm, and Asast; increased the instantaneous water use efficiency in the species with higher foliage mass per area (FMA) (A. pycnantha) and did not have any significant effect on Rdark but increased the Rdark/Asat ratio. Although the shape of the response to drought of both species was similar, the two species differed in the magnitude in the increase of the Rdark/Asat ratio, with drought-mediated increases in Rdark/Asat being greater in A. floribunda than in A. pycnantha; the latter also showing greater recovery of photosynthesis. Collectively, our results highlight the extent to which drought alters the carbon balance of the two selected species. The homeostasis of Rdark underdroughtisparticularlyrelevantwithinaclimatechangescenariowheremoresevereandfrequentdroughtepisodesare predicted to occur.

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