Researchers analyzed intrinsic water-use efficiencies from leaves for two populations of the drought-deciduous shrub, Encelia farinosa, which is found in the Mojave Desert, and found that intrinsic water-use efficiency increased as water stress increased in response to increasing aridity and carbon dioxide concentrations; the findings suggest significant plasticity within individual shrubs to current climate change rather than selection at the population scale, according to the authors.
Article #20-08345: "Multidecadal records of intrinsic water-use efficiency in the desert shrub Encelia farinosa reveal strong responses to climate change," by Avery W. Driscoll, Nicholas Q. Bitter, Darren R. Sandquist, and James R. Ehleringer.
MEDIA CONTACT: James R. Ehleringer, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; tel: 801-971-6004; e-mail: jim.ehleringer@utah.edu
###
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences