Lack of vulnerability segmentation among woody species in a diverse dry sclerophyll woodland community

1. Recent findings suggest that tree mortality and post-drought recovery of gas exchange can be predicted from loss of function within the water transport system. Understanding the susceptibility of plants to hydraulic damage requires knowledge about the vulnerability of different plant organs to stress-induced hydraulic dysfunction. This is particularly important in the context of vulnerability segmentation between plant tissues which is believed to protect more energetically “costly” tissues, such as woody stems, by sacrificing “cheaper” leaves early under drought conditions.
2. Differences in vulnerability segmentation between co-occurring plant species could explain divergent behaviours during drought, yet there are few studies considering how this characteristic may vary within a plant community. Here we investigated community-wide vulnerability segmentation by comparing leaf/shoot and stem vulnerability in all coexistent dominant canopy and understory woody species in a diverse dr...