Contrasts in xylem hydraulics and water use underlie the sorting of different sand-fixing shrub species to early and late stages of dune stabilization.

• Soil moisture significantly decreased with the stabilization of sand dunes. • Shrubs of different dune fixation stages showed contrasting functional traits. • High hydraulic efficiency and prodigal water use allowed success in active dunes. • Strong hydraulic safety and water conservation enabled persistence in fixed dunes. Dominating sand-fixing shrubs play crucial roles in the stabilization and rehabilitation of sand dunes. Different sand-fixing shrub species often separate along the temporal-spatial environmental gradient during the sand dune stabilization process; however, the physiological mechanisms underlying such a separation remain poorly understood, which limits our ability to identify the causes of land desertification and the cruxes of rehabilitation. We investigated xylem hydraulics and water use characteristics of four important shrub species used for sand dune fixation projects in northern China that show distinct preferences to different stages of dune stabilization, i.e. two species succeed in active dunes and the other two in fixed dunes. The major aim was to examine the roles of xylem hydraulics, water use and the coordination of these two aspects in determining the habitat preferences of sand-fixing shrubs along the process of dune stabilization in water-limited environments. The two active-dune species consistently exhibited higher stem hydraulic conductivity but lower resistance to drought-induced xylem embolism than the two fixed-dune species, which reflects contrasting requirements to shrub hydraulic functionality in sand dunes of the two successional stages that differ substantially in soil water regimes. In coordination with contrasts in hydraulics, they also diverged clearly in water use strategies with the fixed-dune shrubs showing more conservative water use. Our results highlight the critical roles that hydraulics and water utilization play in determining the adaptation of dominating sand-fixing shrub species to their respective environments shaped by the plant-soil interactions during sand dune vegetation development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]