Growth form and lifespan of herbaceous species mediate the role of traits in short-term drought response.
Increased climate variability is expected to intensify short-term drought events. Plants have evolved stress tolerance strategies involving trade-offs in resource conservation, mycorrhizal collaboration and plant size, yet how these strategies promote drought resistance across different herbaceous plant groups remains unknown. Leveraging 63 globally distributed grassland and shrubland sites from the International Drought Experiment, we identified plant traits linked to drought resistance in 661 populations of 421 species after 1 year of extreme drought. We assessed how traits, site precipitation and drought severity affected cover change across growth forms and lifespans, and how trait-environment interactions influenced drought resistance. Across all species, leaf N (an acquisitive trait) was associated with drought resistance, whereas in forbs, drought resistance was also associated with a conservative root trait and plant size. In addition, interactions among traits mediated drought resistance; root traits predicted performance only in concert with other traits. Environmental variables influenced trait effects on drought resistance, notably for annuals in wetter sites, suggesting that drought-escape strategies in annuals may be advantageous only under mild stress. Our study highlights variability in traits that predict drought resistance across herbaceous plant groups, emphasizing the importance of species context, environmental stress and the selection of traits in research and management.
Authors
- Clara Milano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9246-4421)
- Anne Ebeling
- Brooke B. Osborne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4771-7677)
- Manjunatha H. Chandregowda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9767-2457)
- Laura W. Ploughe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8421-1299)
- Samantha J. Worthy
- Uffe N. Nielsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2400-7453)
- Jeff Chieppa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2854-1514)
- Liv Guri Velle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0433-5337)
- Timothy Ohlert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6976-5114)
- Michelle Tedder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8021-0929)
- Cameron N. Carlyle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4753-5945)
- Michaela Zeiter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6772-5378)
- Jennifer E. Cribbs
- Justin C. Luong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2118-4788)
- Michele Carbognani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7701-9859)
- Jüergen Kreyling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8489-7289)
- Michael E. Loik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0847-6778)
- Amelia A. Wolf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7660-3455)
- Jeffrey S. Dukes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9482-7743)
- Forest Isbell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9689-769X)
- Akira S. Mori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8422-1198)
- Grisel Longo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7546-3870)
- Pål Thorvaldsen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3883-847X)
- Gregory S. Newman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8932-0809)
- Regina A. Fairbanks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4485-0376)
- Amber C. Churchill (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9136-8131)
- Sally A. Power (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2723-8671)
- Sally E. Koerner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6403-7513)
- Marie Sünnemann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5385-258X)
- Flavia A. Funk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4694-3701)
- Alyssa L. Young (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2373-4264)
- Anjum K. Gujral
- Juan M. Zeberio
- Andrew Kulmatiski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9977-5508)
- Eric G. Lamb (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5201-4541)
- Amgaa Batbaatar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6687-0274)
- Bráulio Almeida Santos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6046-4024)
- Karen H. Beard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4997-2495)
- Siri Vatsø Haugum (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4958-7132)
- Brooke E. Wainwright (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6587-7765)
- Meelis Pärtel
- Thomas Deola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-8416-3132)
- Guadalupe Peter
- Yolanda Pueyo
- Cristy Portales-Reyes
- Melinda D. Smith
- Juan M. Piñeiro-Guerra
- Harald Auge
- Alejandro Valdecantos
- Lara Souza
- Kerry M. Byrne
- Hugh A. L. Henry
- Katherine E. Brafford
- Anca C. Barcu
- Dylan J. MacArthur-Waltz
- Jonathan Aguiñaga
- Edward W Bork
- Samuel E Jordan
- Rafael Otfinowski
- Scott X Chang
- Andreas Stampfli
- Rory C O'Connor
- Vigdis Vandvik
- Katja Tielbörger
- Jennifer L Funk
- Pablo L Peri
- John W Morgan
- Alejandro Loydi
- Nico Eisenhauer
- Seth M Munson
- Karen Castillioni
- Jennifer L Williams
- Yann Hautier
- Rachel J Standish
- Laura Yahdjian
- Elise C Elwood
- James F. Cahill
- Liesbeth van den Brink
- Christiane Roscher
- Richard P Phillips
- Anke Jentsch
- György Kröel-Dulay
- Suzanne M Prober
- T'ai G W Forte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8685-5872)
Institutions
- Institut des Sciences des Plantes de Paris Saclay (FR)
- Institute of Plant Biology (HU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
- Published
- 2026-02-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.48620/94690
- Primary Topic
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00