Drought stress triggers differential survival and functional trait responses in the establishment of Arnica montana seedlings

The establishment and survival of seedlings are critical stages in the life cycle of plants and therefore usually well timed to humid and favourable conditions. Climate projections suggest that the threatened mountain grassland species <em>Arnica montana</em> may be increasingly exposed to drought stress. However, studies that focus on the species’ early development are missing. We evaluated impacts of drought-induced stress on <em>A. montana</em> seedlings in their early establishment phase and identified traits for the species’ fitness decline. In a greenhouse experiment, we tested the response of <em>A. montana</em> seedlings to different drought levels (moderate, strong, extreme). To assess their fitness under increasing drought, we evaluated the survival of the seedlings based on four senescence stages and measured the performance of above- and belowground morphological and physiological functional traits. <em>Arnica montana</em> seedlings showed high resistance to drought. Senescence accelerated and survival declined only under strong and extreme drought conditions. However, the seedlings’ vegetative performance decreased even with moderate drought, as indicated by smaller values of most leaf traits and some root traits. Physiological trait response was less sensitive. Drought stress hinders the establishment and survival of <em>A. montana</em> seedlings. Following the functional trait responses to drought and their associations with survival, we suggest declining leaf length, leaf width, and leaf number as sensitive traits that can lead to a decline performance.