Water deficit associated with drought can severely affect plants and influence ecological interactions involving plant secondary metabolites. We tested the effect of mild water deficit and rewatering on physiological, morphological and chemical traits of juvenile Eucalyptus globulus Labill. and Eucalyptus viminalis Labill. We also tested if responses of juvenile eucalypts to water deficit and rewatering varied within species using provenances across a rainfall gradient. Both species and all provenances were similarly affected by mild water deficit and rewatering, as only foliar abscisic acid levels differed among provenances during water deficit. Across species and provenances, water deficit decreased leaf water potential, above-ground biomass and formylated phloroglucinol compound concentrations, and increased condensed tannin concentrations. Rewatering reduced leaf carbon : nitrogen, and total phenolic and chlorogenic acid concentrations. Water deficit and rewatering had no effect on total oil or individual terpene concentrations. Levels of trait plasticity due to water deficit and rewatering were less than levels of constitutive trait variation among provenances. The overall uniformity of responses to the treatments regardless of native provenance indicates limited diversification of plastic responses when compared with the larger quantitative variation of constitutive traits within these species. These responses to mild water deficit may differ from responses to more extreme water deficit or to responses of juvenile/mature eucalypts growing at each locality.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	abscisic acid, drought, intraspecific, phenol, tannin, terpene
Research Division:	Biological Sciences
Research Group:	Plant biology
Research Field:	Plant physiology
Objective Division:	Plant Production and Plant Primary Products
Objective Group:	Forestry
Objective Field:	Native forests
UTAS Author:	McKiernan, AB (Mr Adam McKiernan)
UTAS Author:	Potts, BM (Professor Brad Potts)
UTAS Author:	Brodribb, TJ (Professor Tim Brodribb)
UTAS Author:	Hovenden, MJ (Professor Mark Hovenden)
UTAS Author:	Davies, NW (Associate Professor Noel Davies)
UTAS Author:	McAdam, SAM (Dr Scott McAdam)
UTAS Author:	Ross, JJ (Associate Professor John Ross)
UTAS Author:	Rodemann, T (Dr Thomas Rodemann)
UTAS Author:	O'Reilly-Wapstra, JM (Professor Julianne O'Reilly-Wapstra)
ID Code:	103997
Year Published:	2016
Web of Science® Times Cited:	34
Deposited By:	Plant Science
Deposited On:	2015-10-30
Last Modified:	2017-11-03
Downloads:	0