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The exploration of unexploited geothermal resources is required to encourage the use of renewable energy. This study focuses on La Jolla beach, Ensenada, Mexico. The beach hosts a thermal anomaly with temperatures of up to 52 °C at the surface and up to 93 °C at 20 cm depth. The objectives were to: map the thermal anomaly, understand the impact of tides, quantify the thermal water discharge rate and heat output, and discuss a direct use of the energy. The mapping was performed with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles equipped with optical and thermal cameras at two different dates. Additional temperature measurements were performed with a thermocouple, while the total fluid discharge was estimated from flow measurements. A comparison between the campaigns indicated that the highest surface temperature area was more than three times larger in 2019 than in 2018 (259 m2 vs. 69 m2). Such change was due to the tidal range and associated hydrostatic pressure variations. The total thermal water discharge is 330 ± 44 L s−1, which corresponds to an advective heat output of 40.5 ± 5.2 MWt. The use of this energy in a Multi-Effect Distillation desalinization plant can contribute to cover the shortage of freshwater in Ensenada.

The drought susceptibility of woody saplings may explain their low survival in arid environments. Therefore, it is critical to determine which morphological and physiological traits are more responsive to drought among young plants. This study tested whether plant responses to experimental drought differ between two plant functional groups: the deciduous and evergreen species. We predicted that deciduous species would present a tighter stomatal control under drought, coupled with fast carbon fixation under no stress, tending toward isohydry and faster growth rates than the evergreen species. Using 1-year-old saplings from three evergreen and four deciduous Sonoran Desert tree species, we evaluated their hydraulic and gas exchange traits under three experimental irrigation conditions: high, intermediate and low water availability. We measured CO2 assimilation rates (A), stomatal conductance (gs), the level of iso-anisohydry (as the plant’s ability to maintain constant their water potential) and seven morphological and growth-related traits throughout 2 months. Under high water availability, saplings reached their maximum values of A and gs, which were significantly higher for deciduous than evergreen species. Correlations among hydroscape area (HA) and leaf traits positioned species along the iso/anisohydric continuum. Deciduous species presented isohydric characteristics, including low HA, high gs, A and Huber values (HVs), and traits indicative of a faster use of resources, such as low stem-specific density (SSD) and low leaf mass per area (LMA). By contrast, evergreen species showed traits that indicate slow resource use and anisohydric behavior, such as high HA, SSD and LMA, and low gs, A and HVs. Deciduous species drastically reduced gas exchange rates in response to drought, while evergreen maintained low rates independently of drought intensity. Overall, desert saplings showed strategies concordant with the iso-anisohydric continuum and the fast–slow use of resources.

In urban Mediterranean ecosystems, invasive alien plants should have characteristics that enable faster resource acquisition and utilization than native species. We tested this hypothesis by comparing stem and leaf functional traits from five abundant native woody shrubs and five of the most abundant alien species within an urban coastal scrub community in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. Twelve anatomical and ecophysiological traits were studied: light-saturated CO2 assimilation rate, stomatal conductance, stem and leaf water potentials during transpiration, % stem allocation to bark, xylem and pith, stem xylem vessel diameter and density, leaf size, and % allocation to spongy and palisade mesophyll. Alien species varied more in these traits, and their trait combinations reflected less investment in long-lived tissues; they had higher CO2 assimilation and stomatal conductance rates, higher values of leaf and stem water potential, and higher allocation to pith, larger stem xylem vessels, and larger leaf areas. In contrast, native woody shrub species were relatively convergent in leaf and stem traits reflecting more conservative resource use. Within disturbed urban environments, alien species may outcompete the native stress-tolerant species through rapid resource acquisition, enhanced by a broader set of functional trait combinations across species.

Owing to periodic inundation, wetland plants may have adapted to minimize leaf gas exchange impairments. Increasing the leaf cuticle surface roughness might contribute to buffer flooding stress, since it might increase both leaf water repellency (i.e. leaf hydrophobicity) and the presence of gas films. Thus, a higher leaf hydrophobicity, as well as an increased cuticle roughness, can be expected in species subject to continuous water-logging. We tested this hypothesis by: 1) measuring the contact angle in the liquid-solid interface on leaves of 52 plant species from three coastal wetlands with different diversity and flooding regime in Baja California, Mexico, and 2) by performing scanning electron microscopic analyses in the most hydrophilic and hydrophobic species. Contrary to our expectations, the highest values of leaf water repellency were found in species from non-flooded areas adjacent to the wetlands, whereas neutral leaf water repellency values were found in species subject to flooding, as indicated by the contact angle measurements (77 to 100°). The most water repellent species presented a striking layer of wax on top of the leaf cuticles, while the lest water repellent species were mostly glabrous, which suggest that the augmentation of wax covering in the cuticle might be responding to other environmental factors, such as irradiation.

Leaf density links the resistance to mechanical and hydraulic stress in Mediterranean shrubs as it is associated with the water potential at turgor loss and the moduli of elasticity and strength. Understanding the patterns of hydraulic and mechanical trait variation in vascular plants is critical to predicting species’ stress tolerance. Although previous work has shown that hydraulic and mechanical traits are decoupled in stems, there is little information available for leaves, which are organs more diversified in structure, function, and possibly drought tolerance strategies across habitats. We tested for coordination between leaf hydraulic traits related to drought tolerance and the mechanical resistance of leaves, for 17 shrub species from the arid and semiarid vegetation of the California Floristic Province. Bayesian and phylogenetic correlations showed that across species, hydraulic and mechanical traits both had strong associations with the water potential at turgor loss, and with leaf tissue density. However, leaf maximum hydraulic conductance and the water potential at 50% and 80% loss of hydraulic conductance were statistically independent of two key mechanical traits, the leaf modulus of elasticity and leaf structural strength. Our results suggest that leaf biomechanical traits, which reflect construction costs and contribute to leaf longevity, are decoupled from hydraulic capacity and safety. The independence of hydraulic and mechanical protection in leaves enables a wide range of trait combinations in leaves, which would increase their adaptive potential across ecosystems.

BackgroundIn arid and semiarid shrublands, water availability directly influences ecosystem properties. However, few empirical tests have determined the association between particular soil and hydrology traits with biodiversity and ecosystem biomass at the local scale.MethodsWe tested if plant species richness (S) and aboveground biomass (AGB) were associated with soil and topographic properties on 36 plots (ca. 12.5 m2) in 17 hectares of chaparral in the Mediterranean-climate of Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, México. We used close-to-the-ground aerial photography to quantify sky-view cover per species, including all growth forms. We derived an elevation model (5 cm) from other aerial imagery. We estimated six soil properties (soil water potential, organic matter content, water content, pH, total dissolved solids concentration, and texture) and four landscape metrics (slope, aspect, elevation, and topographic index) for the 36 plots. We quantified the biomass of stems, leaves, and reproductive structures, per species.Results86% of AGB was in stems, while non-woody species represented 0.7% of AGB but comprised 38% ofS(29 species). Aboveground biomass and species richness were unrelated across the landscape.Swas correlated with aspect and elevation (R= 0.53, aspectP= 0.035, elevationP= 0.05), while AGB (0.006–9.17 Kg m-2) increased with soil water potential and clay content (R= 0.51,P= 0.02, andP= 0.04). Only three species (11% of totalS) occupied 65% of the total plant cover, and the remaining 26 represented only 35%. Cover was negatively correlated withS(R= -0.38,P= 0.02). 75% of AGB was concentrated in 30% of the 36 plots, and 96% of AGB corresponded to only 20% of 29 species.DiscussionAt the scale of small plots in our studied Mediterranean-climate shrubland in Baja California, AGB was most affected by soil water storage. AGB and cover were dominated by a few species, and only cover was negatively related toS.Swas comprised mostly by uncommon species and tended to increase as plant cover decreased.

Plants from arid environments display covarying traits to survive or resist drought. Plant drought resistance and ability to survive long periods of low soil water availability should involve leaf phenology coordination with leaf and stem functional traits related to water status. This study tested correlations between phenology and functional traits involved in plant water status regulation in 10 Sonoran Desert tree species with contrasting phenology. Species seasonal variation in plant water status was defined by calculating their relative positions along the iso/anisohydric regulation continuum based on their hydroscape areas (HA)—a metric derived from the relationship between predawn and midday water potentials—and stomatal and hydraulic traits. Additionally, functional traits associated with plant water status regulation, including lamina vessel hydraulic diameter (DHL), stem-specific density (SSD) and leaf mass per area (LMA) were quantified per species. To characterize leaf phenology, leaf longevity (LL) and canopy foliage duration (FD) were determined. Hydroscape area was strongly correlated with FD but not with leaf longevity (LL); HA was significantly associated with SSD and leaf hydraulic traits (DHL, LMA) but not with stem hydraulic traits (vulnerability index, relative conductivity); and FD was strongly correlated with LMA and SSD. Leaf physiological characteristics affected leaf phenology when it was described as canopy FD better than when described as LL. Stem and leaf structure and hydraulic functions were not only relevant for categorizing species along the iso/anisohydric continuum but also allowed identifying different strategies of desert trees within the ‘fast–slow’ plant economics spectrum. The results in this study pinpoint the set of evolutionary pressures that shape the Sonoran Desert Scrub physiognomy.

Salinity tolerance in plant species varies widely due to adaptation and acclimation processes at the cellular and whole-plant scales. In mangroves, extreme substrate salinity induces hydraulic failure and ion excess toxicity and reduces growth and survival, thus suggesting a potentially critical role for physiological acclimation to salinity. We tested the hypothesis that osmotic adjustment, a key type of plasticity that mitigates salinity shock, would take place in coordination with declines in whole-plant hydraulic conductance in a common garden experiment using saplings of three mangrove species with different salinity tolerances (Avicennia germinans L., Rhizophora mangle L. and Laguncularia racemosa (L.) C.F. Gaertn., ordered from higher to lower salinity tolerance). For each mangrove species, four salinity treatments (1, 10, 30 and 50 practical salinity units) were established and the time trajectories were determined for leaf osmotic potential (Ψs), stomatal conductance (gs), whole-plant hydraulic conductance (Kplant) and predawn disequilibrium between xylem and substrate water potentials (Ψpdd). We expected that, for all three species, salinity increments would result in coordinated declines in Ψs, gs and Kplant, and that the Ψpdd would increase with substrate salinity and time of exposure. In concordance with our predictions, reductions in substrate water potential promoted a coordinated decline in Ψs, gs and Kplant, whereas the Ψpdd increased substantially during the first 4 days but dissipated after 7 days, indicating a time lag for equilibration after a change in substratum salinity. Our results show that mangroves confront and partially ameliorate acute salinity stress via simultaneous reductions in Ψs, gs and Kplant, thus developing synergistic physiological responses at the cell and whole-plant scales.

International audience; As trees worldwide experience mortality or dieback with increasing drought and low tundras grow taller with warming, understanding the link between plant height and climate is increasingly important. We show that taller plants have predictably wider water-conducting conduits, and that wider conduits within species are more vulnerable to conduction-blocking embolisms. These two observations suggest that tall plants in formerly moist areas die because their wide conduits are excessively vulnerable under novel drought conditions. Also, the cold that limits conduit diameter, and therefore height, in tundra plants is relaxed under warming, permitting wider conduits and taller plants. That plant height appears linked to climate via plant hydraulics helps explain why vegetation height differs across biomes and is altering with climate change.Understanding how plants survive drought and cold is increasingly important as plants worldwide experience dieback with drought in moist places and grow taller with warming in cold ones. Crucial in plant climate adaptation are the diameters of water-transporting conduits. Sampling 537 species across climate zones dominated by angiosperms, we find that plant size is unambiguously the main driver of conduit diameter variation. And because taller plants have wider conduits, and wider conduits within species are more vulnerable to conduction-blocking embolisms, taller conspecifics should be more vulnerable than shorter ones, a prediction we confirm with a plantation experiment. As a result, maximum plant size should be short under drought and cold, which cause embolism, or increase if these pressures relax. That conduit diameter and embolism vulnerability are inseparably related to plant size helps explain why factors that interact with conduit diameter, such as drought or warming, are altering plant heights worldwide.

Background and Aims Rhizophora species of mangroves have a conspicuous system of stilt-like roots (rhizo-phores) that grow from the main stem and resemble flying buttresses. As such, the development of rhizophores canbe predicted to be important for the effective transmission of dynamic loads from the top of the tree to the ground,especially where the substrate is unstable, as is often the case in the habitats where Rhizophora species typicallygrow. This study tests the hypothesis that rhizophore architecture in R. mangle co-varies with their proximity to themain stem, and with stem size and crown position. Methods The allometry and wood mechanical properties of R. mangle (red mangrove) trees growing in amangrove basin forest within a coastal lagoon in Mexico were compared with those of coexisting, non-buttressedmangrove trees of Avicennia germinans. The anatomy of rhizophores was related to mechanical stress due to crownorientation (static load) and to prevailing winds (dynamic load) at the study site. Key Results Rhizophores buttressed between 10 and 33 % of tree height. There were significant and directscaling relationships between the number, height and length of rhizophores vs. basal area, tree height and crownarea. Wood mechanical resistance was significantly higher in the buttressed R. mangle (modulus of elasticity,MOE¼18 162GPa)thaninA. germinans (MOE ¼12 160 5GPa). Slenderness ratios (total height/stem diame-ter) were higher in R. mangle, but there were no interspecies differences in critical buckling height. When in prox-imity to the main stem, rhizophores had a lower length/height ratio, higher eccentricity and higher xylem/bark andpith proportions. However, there were no directional trends with regard to prevailing winds or tree leaning. Conclusions In comparison with A. germinans, a tree species with wide girth and flare at the base, R. mangle sup-ports a thinner stem of higher mechanical resistance that is stabilized by rhizophores resembling flying buttresses.This provides a unique strategy to increase tree slenderness and height in the typically unstable substrate on whichthe trees grow, at a site that is subject to frequent storms.Key words: Allometry, Avicennia germinans, biomechanics, flying buttresses, mangroves, Mexico, modulus ofelasticity, Rhizophora mangle, root anatomy, rhizophores, thigmomorphogenesis