Water use strategies in pines and oaks across biomes are modulated by soil water availability.

Abstract

Quercus and Pinus are amongst the most economically and ecologically relevant genera of woody species across northern hemisphere forests. Mixed pine-oak woodlands are also abundant in temperate and Mediterranean regions. The recent shift towards dominance of oaks in detriment of pines, reported in several regions, could be partly driven by differential drought responses between genera and associated with climate change. Here, we synthesise water use strategies across pine and oak species globally to elucidate whether water-saver and water-spender strategies are consistently found for pines and oak species, respectively, and to what extent these strategies are determined by species traits and site characteristics. Pines showed a water-saver strategy when soils are dry but a comparatively water-spender strategy when soils are wet. These patterns still hold when pines and oaks grow in the same site, and thus are not affected by species interactions between them. Oak species have higher stem hydraulic conductivity and a deeper maximum rooting depth, supporting their higher capacity to withdraw soil water. Water use regulation was more related to traits in pines, showing more water-spender strategies at low absolute values of predawn leaf water potentials, without necessarily increasing hydraulic risk, as a result of adjustments in sapwood-to-leaf area ratio (Huber value) and xylem hydraulic conductivity. Climate and vegetation structure were more related to water use strategies in pines compared to oaks. Our results show that, despite these trait adjustments, drought severely constrains water (and carbon) acquisition in pines, which would tend to favour oak species in drought-prone environments.