Antecedent soil water content and vapor pressure deficit interactively control water potential in Larrea tridentata

What is it about?

Plant water status does not immediately respond to environmental drivers, but the duration of the lags is not well known. We quantify the lagged responses of plant water status in a broadly-distributed desert shrub and discover that this shrub may alternate between conservative and profligate water use strategies, depending on past conditions.

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