Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Fundamental intra-specific differences in plant–water relations in a widespread desert shrub (Artemisia tridentata)

  • Published:
Plant Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) is a widespread and locally dominant shrub that is a key driver of water fluxes and storage in western North America. There are several recognized subspecies of big sagebrush that occupy different microsites across the landscape according to moisture availability, yet little is known about how these subspecies vary in drought tolerance or water management strategies. We measured diurnal and seasonal (i.e., early-, mid-, and late summer) variation in water status and transport efficiency, transpiration, and stomatal regulations in two subspecies of big sagebrush (A.t. wyomingensis and A.t. vaseyana) at the Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory in southwestern Idaho. We hypothesized that water status, transport efficiency, and stomatal regulations would be greater in A.t. vaseyana compared to A.t. wyomingensis, because the first subspecies occupies wetter microsites. Predawn and midday water potentials were up to 2× more negative in A.t. wyomingensis compared to A.t. vaseyana, and transpiration was up to ~ 4× greater in A.t. vaseyana compared to A.t. wyomingensis. A.t. vaseyana was more isohydric with ~ 1.5× greater stomatal sensitivity to atmospheric vapor pressure deficit and a smaller hydroscape, compared to A.t. wyomingensis. Our data demonstrate that there are fundamental differences in plant–water relations among these subspecies that constitute the vast, but not homogeneous sagebrush landscapes. These important differences can have implications for modeling water fluxes in big sagebrush-dominated communities at shrub to ecosystem scales.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abatzoglou JT, Rupp DE, Mote PW (2014) Seasonal climate variability and change in Pacific Northwest of the United States. J Clim 27(5):2125–2142. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00218.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angell RF, Svejcar T, Bates J, Saliendra NZ, Johnson DA (2001) Bowen ratio and closed chamber carbon dioxide flux measurements over sagebrush steppe vegetation. Agric For Meteorol 108:153–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aphalo PJ, Jarvis PG (1991) Do stomata respond to relative humidity? Plant Cell Environ 14:127–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barker JR, McKell CM (1986) Differences in big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) plant stature along soil-water gradients: genetic components. J Range Manag 39:147–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Booth GD, Welch BL, Jacobson TLC (1990) Seedling growth rate of 3 subspecies of big sagebrush. J Range Manag 43:432–435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brabec MM, Matthew JG, Richardson BA (2016) Climate adaption and post-fire restoration of a foundational perennial in cold desert: insights from intraspecific variation in response to weather. J Appl Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12679

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell GS, Harris GA (1977) Water relations and water use patterns for Artemisia tridentata nutt. in wet and dry years. Ecology 58:652–659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell GS, Norman JM (1997) An introduction to environmental biophysics. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaney L, Richrdson BA, Germino MJ (2016) Climate drives adaptive genetic responses associated with survival in big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). Evol Appl 10:313–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eddy WF (1977) Algorithm 523: CONVEX, A new convex hull algorithm for planar sets. ACM Trans Math Softw 3:411–412

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson CW (1964) Annual rings in Big Sagebrush: Artemisia tridentata. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson

    Google Scholar 

  • Flerchinger GN, Fellows AW, Seyfried MS, Clark PE, Lohse KA (2019) Water and carbon fluxes aong an elevational gradient in a sagebrush ecosystem. Ecosystems. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00400-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Germino JM, Reinhardt K (2014) Desert shrub responses to experimental modification of precipitation seasonality and soil depth: relationship to the two-layer hypothesis and ecohydrological niche. J Ecol 102:989–997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham LR, Yao FF (1983) Finding the convex hull of a simple polygon. J Algorithms 4:324–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gu D, Wang Q, Mallik A (2018) Non-convergent transpiration and stomatal conductance response of a dominant desert species in central Asia to climate drivers at leaf, branch and whole plant scales. J Agric Meterol 74(1):9–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harniss RO, McDonough WT (1975) Seedling growth of three big sagebrush subspecies under controlled temperature regimens. J Range Manage 35:396–401

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenny H (1941) Factors of soil formation: a system of quantitative pedology. McGrew-Hill, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson DM, Berry CZ, Baker VK, Smith DD, McCulloh KA, Domec JC (2018) Leaf hydraulic parameters are more plastic in species that experience a wider range of leaf water potentials. Funct Ecol. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13049

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karl TR et al (2009) Global climate change impacts in the United States. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleinhesselink AR, Adler PB (2018) The response of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) to interannual climate variation changes across its range. Ecology 99(5):1139–1149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolb KJ, Sperry JS (1999a) Differences in drought adaptation between subspecies of Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). Ecology 80:2373–2384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolb KJ, Sperry JS (1999b) Transport constraints on water use by Great Basin shrub, Artemisia tridentata. Plant Cell Environ 22:925–935

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lohammar T, Larsson S, Linder S, Falk SO (1980) FAST—simulation models of gaseous exchange in Scots pine. Ecol Bull 32:505–523

    Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Vilalta J, Garcia-Forner N (2017) Water potential regulation, stomatal behavior and hydraulic transport under drought: deconstructing the iso/anisohydric concept. Plant Cell Environ 40:962–976

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McArthur ED (1979) Sagebrush systematics and evolution. sagebrush ecosystem symposium. Utah State University, Logan, pp 14–22

    Google Scholar 

  • McArthur ED, Plummer AP (1978) Biogeography and management of native western shrubs: a case study, section Tridentata of Artemisia. Great Basin Nat Memoirs 2:229–243

    Google Scholar 

  • McArthur ED, Welch BL (1982) Growth rate differences among big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) accessions and subspecies. J Range Manag 35:396–401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCulloh KA, Johnson DM, Meinzer FC, Lachenbruch B (2011) An annual pattern of native embolism in upper branches of four tall conifer species. Am J Bot 98(6):1007–1015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meinzer FC, Woodruff DR, Marias DE, Smith DD, McCulloh KA, Howard AR, Magedman AL (2016) Mapping “hydroscapes” along the iso –to anisohydric continuum of stomatal regulation of plant water status. Ecol Lett 19:1343–1352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monteith J, Unsworth M (1990) Principles of environmental physics, 2nd edn. Edward Arnold, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Mote PW (2003) Trends in temperature and precipitation in the Pacific Northwest. Northwest Sci 77:271–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Murdock MD, Huber DP, Seyfried MS, Patton NR, Lohse KA (2018) Dataset for soil hydraulic parameter estimates along an elevation gradient in dryland soils. BSU. https://doi.org/10.18122/reynoldscreek/10/boisestate

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naithani KJ, Ewers BE, Pendall E (2012) Sap flux-scaled transpiration and stomatal conductance response to soil and atmospheric drought in a semi-arid sagebrush ecosystem. J Hydrol 464–465:176–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogle K, Reynolds JF (2002) Desert dogma revisited: coupling of stomatal conductance and photosynthesis in the desert shrub, Larrea tridentata. Plant Cell Environ 25:909–921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oren R, Sperry JS, Katul GG, Pataki DE, Ewers BE, Phillips N, Schafer KVR (1999) Survey and synthesis of intra- and interspecific variation in stomatal sensitivity to vapour pressure deficit. Plant Cell Environ 22:1515–1526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prater MR, Obrist D, Arnone JA, DeLucia EH (2006) Net carbon exchange and evapotranspiration in postfire and intact sagebrush communities in the Great Basin. Oecologia 146:595–607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prevey JS, Germino AJ, Huntly NJ (2010) Loss of foundation species increases population growth of exotic forbs in sagebrush steppe. Ecol Appl 20(7):1890–1902

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R core team (2016) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria

  • Reynolds JF, Maestre FT, Kemp PR, Stafford-Smith DM, Lambin E (2007) Natural and human dimensions of land degradation in drylands: causes and consequences. In: Canadell J, Pataki D, Pitelka LF (eds) Terrestrial ecosystems in a changing world. Springer, Berlin, pp 247–258

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson BA, Chaney L, Shaw NL, Still SM (2016) Will phenotypic plasticity affecting flowering phenology keep pace with climate change? Glob Change Biol. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlaepfer DR, Lauenroth WK, Bradford JB (2012) Effects of ecohydrological variables on current and future ranges, local suitability patterns, and model accuracy in big sagebrush. Ecography 35:374–384

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwabedissen SG, Lohse KA, Reed SC, Aho KA, Magnuson TS (2017) Nitrogenase activity by biological soil crusts in cold sagebrush steppe ecosystems. Biogeochemistry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-017-0342-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seyfried M, Lohse K, Marks D, Flerchinger G, Pierson F, Holbrook WS (2018) Reynolds creek experimental watershed and critical zone observatory. VZJ 17:180129. https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2018.07.0129

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma H, Reinhardt K, Lohse KA, Aho KA (2019) Summer-time carbon and water fluxes in sagebrush ecosystems spanning rain-to snow-dominated precipitation regimes. Rangeland Ecol Manag. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rama.2019.11.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter CW, Marks D, Flerchinger GN, Van Vactor SS, Burgess M (2001) Thirty-five years of research data collection at the Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed, Idaho, United States. Water Resour Res 37(11):2819–2823

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith WK, Schoettle AW, Cui MM (1991) Importance of the method of leaf area measurement to the interpretation of gas exchange of complex shoots. Tree Physiol 8:121–127

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler JK, Huggett BA, Tofte AN, Rockwell FE, Holbrook NM (2013) Cutting xylem under tension or supersaturated with gas can generate PLC and the appearance of rapid recovery from embolism. Plant Cell Environ. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.12139

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was performed in collaboration and cooperation with USDA Agricultural Research Service, Northwest Watershed Research Center, Boise, Idaho, and landowners within the Reynolds Creek Critical Zone Observatory (RC-CZO). We thank Dr. Ken Aho for help with making hydroscapes. We gratefully acknowledge the comments from two anonymous reviewers, whose input greatly improved this manuscript. Support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation Reynolds Creek CZO Cooperative Agreement NSF EAR 1331872.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Harmandeep Sharma.

Additional information

Communicated by Georgianne W. Moore.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 662 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sharma, H., Reinhardt, K. & Lohse, K.A. Fundamental intra-specific differences in plant–water relations in a widespread desert shrub (Artemisia tridentata). Plant Ecol 221, 925–938 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-020-01051-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-020-01051-y

Keywords

Navigation