Hana Hiraoka
Research Mentor(s): Liting Zheng
Mentor Department: Institute for Global Change and Biology
Authors: Hana Hiraoka
Session: Session 4 (1:00pm – 1:50pm)
Presentation Type: Poster 79
Abstract
As the world’s temperatures continue to increase, it is important to determine what components of plant biodiversity will contribute to plants being able to withstand drought-like conditions. There is a strong argument for trees with varying root and leaf compositions allowing for significant below ground water partitioning (Mas et. al, 2024) under moderate drought, but the partitioning was not enough to withstand severe drought conditions. These results align with the hypothesis that plant biodiversity contributes to efficient water-use partitioning between different species, but is not sufficient to assist in severe drought conditions. In our study, we are going to assess the effects of plant diversity on [ecosystem’s water-use strategies] under drought. These effects are measured variables such as Psi pd (predawn water potential), gs (stomatal conductance) and Delta Psi (difference between midday and predawn water potential). The method used for this study was through meta-analysis, where prior research papers conducted on the topic were reviewed and combed over for data, and later inputted into the R programming language for data analysis. We expect to determine the optimal combination of plant characteristics (such as broadleaf vs conifer) under drought. These results could be applied in the real world to ensure crop survival in drought conditions, as well as preserving natural ecosystems across the globe.
