Diversity of tree hydraulic strategies in intensively used and natural tropical systems

One of the main objectives of the study is to assess the hydraulic strategies of species in different systems which represent a gradient of biodiversity (from natural forest to oil palm and rubber plantation). To achieve this objective we will measure hydraulic traits at different scales: We will perform stem-level measurements (Wood density; Wood anatomy; Stem conductivity; etc.), branch-level measurements (Wood anatomy; Branch conductivity; Vulnerability curves for some species; etc.) and leaf-level measurements (Minimum water potential; Leaf specific area; Turgor loss point; etc.). Due to the high number of species and sample we will not assess all these traits for every species in the different plots but we will be able to get Vulnerability curves (and thus the P50 values), Hydraulic safety margins and Turgor loss points for a significant number of species. These latter traits are important to know more about the drought sensitivity of species. Then we want to relate all the hydraulic traits together to assess hydraulic strategy and finally compare these strategies to the above-ground biomass increment and to the inter-annual variation in productivity for each system.