Global Hydraulic Traits of Woody Plants Matched with Phylogeny

Hydraulic properties control plant responses to climate and are likely under strong selective pressure. This global dataset compiled by Pablo Sanchez Martinez of the Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications matches hydraulic traits describing xylem efficiency, safety, sapwood allocation, and drought exposure with a genus-level phylogeny. It reveals two phylogenetically conserved adaptive modules: safety-exposure coordination and efficiency-allocation coordination.

Use Cases

• Analyzing phylogenetic signal in plant hydraulic traits based on the described trait categories.
• Modeling evolutionary correlations between xylem safety and drought exposure as described in the adaptive modules.
• Investigating the independent evolution of hydraulic efficiency and safety modules mentioned in the description.
• Studying macro-evolutionary patterns of woody plants in relation to water availability and soil type.

Strengths

• Dataset is global in scope, covering a wide range of woody plant species.
• Traits are matched with a newly derived genus-level phylogeny, enabling evolutionary analysis.
• Description identifies medium to high levels of phylogenetic signal across all hydraulic traits.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Pablo Sanchez Martinez, Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications

Collection Method

Compiled from global sources and matched with a derived phylogeny.

Geography

Global