Tavares, J.V., Gloor, E. orcid.org/0000-0002-9384-6341, Silva, T.S.F. et al. (92 more authors) (2026) Family imprint reveals basin-wide patterns of Amazon forest embolism resistance. Nature Communications, 17. 2073. ISSN: 2041-1723
Abstract
Amazon rainforests face intensifying water stress due to increases in vapour pressure deficit and changing hydrological regimes. Embolism resistance (Ψ50) is a critical metric of tree survival under drought conditions, it is defined as a plant’s capacity to resist disruption of xylem water flow due to air bubble formation from water stress. However, measurements of Ψ50 are only available for a limited number of Amazon locations and species. Conversely, data on forest taxonomic composition are abundant across Amazonia, and if Ψ50 is conserved phylogenetically, these data could provide a way to scale-up drought resistance patterns. Here we evaluate Ψ50 measurements across non-flooded Amazonian tree taxa and reveal a moderate phylogenetic signal, with phylogenetic conservatism evident at the family-level. Notably, Fabaceae is amongst the most embolism-resistant tree families in Amazonia. Leveraging the phylogenetic signal we use species composition and tree size data from 448 forest plots across Amazonia to produce a macroecological assessment of Amazonian vulnerability to embolism. The resulting estimate spatial pattern reveals that forests in the Brazilian and Guiana Shield regions, where Fabaceae abundance is high, show strong resistance to embolism. In contrast, tree communities in Western Amazonia appear more vulnerable to embolism, suggesting a reduced capacity to withstand future drought conditions.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Authors/Creators: |
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| Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2026. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Dates: |
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| Institution: | The University of Leeds |
| Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Geography (Leeds) |
| Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) 2022GCBCARBOLES NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/X018903/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/N004655/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/X001164/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/R005079/1 NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) NE/N012542/1 |
| Date Deposited: | 02 Jul 2026 10:32 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Jul 2026 10:32 |
| Status: | Published online |
| Publisher: | Springer Nature |
| Identification Number: | 10.1038/s41467-026-69892-1 |
| Related URLs: | |
| Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:242373 |
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