Allometry of phreatophyte and non phreatophyte woody species from the Central Monte Desert in response to water availability

CARINA GONZALEZ; ARANZAZÚ GUEVARA; CARLA VALERIA GIORDANO; BIRUK, LUCÍA N.; MARÍA ELENA FERNÁNDEZ

Puerto Montt

Otro; XIII Summer Colloquium on plant ecophysiology; 2018

Universidad de Concepción

GoalTo study the characters of drought avoidance and tolerance that could be induced during nursery pre-culture in siedlings under water stress. Our aim is to generate siedlings with high survival probability for use in revegetation plans. We chose 4 woody plant species native to Monte Central. Two of them are non-phreatophyte: ?Bulnesia retama, found in the three landscape units in the Bosque de Telteca (dunes, interdune valleys and lowlands, which are large extensions at a lower elevation than dunes and interdune valleys). ?Prosopis argentina, only found on the dunes. Two of them are phreatophyte:?Prosopis alpataco, which is always associated to phreatic underground reservoirs. This species is found only in the lowlands. ?Prosopis Flexuosa, which may or may not be associated to underground water reservoirs is found in interdune valleys and dune flanks. The data suggests that not only does water stress affect biomass accumulation but also biomass distribution in the plant, that is to say its allometry. This makes evident that not only does water stress bring about changes in growth (where different responses are observed according to functional group) but also at the level of development (where the type of response is linked to each particular species).