Local adaptation to drought in a widely distributed non-native woody plant species

Plant hydraulics play a critical role in carbon, water and biogeochemical cycling, and patterns of plant mortality in aridland ecosystems. Inter-specific differences in hydraulic strategies are well documented, however much less is known regarding the prevalence and role of local adaptation and intra-specific differences in predicting plant and ecosystem response to drought. Results from a Tamarix common garden drought experiment show differences in hydraulic strategies from source populations spanning a large elevational gradient, and further underscore the need to assess the degree to which local adaptation impacts plant response to drought across the western USA and other aridland ecosystems.