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. 2022 Nov 17:13:1048930.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1048930. eCollection 2022.

Regulating carbon and water balance as a strategy to cope with warming and drought climate in Cunninghamia lanceolata in southern China

Xuan Fang  1   2   3 , Tian Lin  4 , Biyao Zhang  2 , Yongru Lai  1   2 , Xupeng Chen  1   2 , Yixin Xiao  1   2 , Yiqing Xie  5 , Jinmao Zhu  1   2 , Yusheng Yang  3   6   7 , Jian Wang  1   3   7
Affiliations

Regulating carbon and water balance as a strategy to cope with warming and drought climate in Cunninghamia lanceolata in southern China

Xuan Fang et al. Front Plant Sci. .

Abstract

Human activities have increased the possibility of simultaneous warming and drought, which will lead to different carbon (C) allocation and water use strategies in plants. However, there is no conclusive information from previous studies. To explore C and water balance strategies of plants in response to warming and drought, we designed a 4-year experiment that included control (CT), warming (W, with a 5°C increase in temperature), drought (D, with a 50% decrease in precipitation), and warming and drought conditions (WD) to investigate the non-structural carbohydrate (NSC), C and nitrogen (N) stoichiometry, and intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) of leaves, roots, and litter of Cunninghamia lanceolata, a major tree species in southern China. We found that W significantly increased NSC and starch in the leaves, and increased NSC and soluble sugar is one of the components of NSC in the roots. D significantly increased leaves' NSC and starch, and increased litter soluble sugar. The NSC of the WD did not change significantly, but the soluble sugar was significantly reduced. The iWUE of leaves increased under D, and surprisingly, W and D significantly increased the iWUE of litter. The iWUE was positively correlated with NSC and soluble sugar. In addition, D significantly increased N at the roots and litter, resulting in a significant decrease in the C/N ratio. The principal component analysis showed that NSC, iWUE, N, and C/N ratio can be used as identifying indicators for C. lanceolata in both warming and drought periods. This study stated that under warming or drought, C. lanceolata would decline in growth to maintain high NSC levels and reduce water loss. Leaves would store starch to improve the resiliency of the aboveground parts, and the roots would increase soluble sugar and N accumulation to conserve water and to help C sequestration in the underground part. At the same time, defoliation was potentially beneficial for maintaining C and water balance. However, when combined with warming and drought, C. lanceolata growth will be limited by C, resulting in decreased NSC. This study provides a new insight into the coping strategies of plants in adapting to warming and drought environments.

Keywords: Chinese fir; carbon and water balance; defoliation; drought; warming.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map of the study area.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Effects of warming and drought on soluble sugar concentrations in the leaves (A), roots (B), and litter (C), and starch concentrations in the leaves (D), roots (E), and litter (F) of C lanceolata. The bars with different letters were significantly different from each other (p< 0.05). Treatments: control (CT), warming (W), drought (D), and warming plus drought (WD). Values were mean ± SE (n = 5); treatment in the combination was expressed as W, warming effect; D, drought effect; and W×D, interactive effect of warming and drought; *, significant effect at p< 0.05; **, highly significant effect at p< 0.01; ns, no significant effect at p> 0.05.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of warming and drought on the ratios of soluble sugar to starch in the leaves (A), roots (B), and litter (C) and NSC concentrations in the leaves (D), roots (E), and litter (F) of C lanceolata. The bars with different letters were significantly different from each other (p< 0.05). Treatments: control (CT), warming (W), drought (D), and warming plus drought (WD). Values were mean ± SE (n = 5); treatment in the combination was expressed as W, warming effect; D, drought effect; and W×D, interactive effect of warming and drought; *, significant effect at p< 0.05; **, highly significant effect at p< 0.01; ns, no significant effect at p> 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effects of warming and drought on iWUE in the leaves (A), roots (B), and litter (C) of C lanceolata. The bars with different letters were significantly different from each other (p< 0.05). Treatments: control (CT), warming (W), drought (D), and warming plus drought (WD). Values were mean ± SE (n = 5); treatment in the combination was expressed as W, warming effect; D, drought effect; and W×D, interactive effect of warming and drought; *, significant effect at p< 0.05; **, highly significant effect at p< 0.01; ns, no significant effect at p> 0.05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Relationships between soluble sugar (A), starch (B), and NSC (C) concentrations and iWUE in leaves, roots, and litter.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Principal component analysis (PCA) of NSC concentrations, iWUE, C, N concentrations, and C/N ratios in three parts of plant under four treatments.
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