资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

Root water uptake (RWU) strategies shape climate-vegetation feedbacks and ecosystem productivity. A fundamental relationship between RWU strategies and evolutionary histories (phylogeny) of trees, however, remains poorly understood. Establishing a phylogenetic basis for tree RWU, particularly groundwater use, could improve their representation in terrestrial biosphere models that are crucial for understanding hydrologic and ecosystem responses to climate perturbations. We explored possible phylogenetic basis for tree RWU using two independent datasets: 1) observed root and local groundwater depths representing 502 tree species, and 2) groundwater, soil, and xylem water isotopic evidence for groundwater uptake representing 412 species. Maximum rooting depths (RD_MAX), the ratio between RD_MAX and mean water table depth (WT) (), and isotopic evidence of groundwater uptake showed significant phylogenetic signals, suggesting that tree water strategies are more similar among closely related species. Our findings may be used to parameterize species-level RWU in terrestrial biosphere models, particularly for data-poor regions.