Functional guide

Leaf area (mm²): is the one-side area of the leaf. Plants with smaller leaves may endure drought better, because the smaller the leaf, lower the water loss through transpiration. Transpiration occurs when the vapor water flows from the leaf out to the atmosphere through the stomata. Stomata are microscopic pores that occurs on the leaf surface and that can open or close to allow both the water to flow out and the carbon dioxide to flow into the leaf.

Absorption (%): is the plant capacity to absorb water through their leaves. When the soils are dry but the atmosphere is highly humid, for example during fog events, some plants can absorb this alternative source of water. First the water condenses on the leaf surface, then it enters the leaf either through specialized structures, such as trichomes, or through the stomata or cuticle.

Resprout (%): is the plant capacity to produce new biomass after the destruction of its aerial biomass (leaves and stems), by using resources stored underground (roots and stems). Plants with higher resprout capacity may recover faster after a drought event.

Succulence (g/dm²): represents how much water plants store in their leaves. Succulent plants can avoid dehydration, as they can use the stored water to maintain their physiological activities during drier periods.

Seed size (mm): plants with smaller seeds may be able to disperse such seeds at longer distances, and thus they might be able to recolonize an area after a drought event. On the other hand, bigger seeds usually contain larger amounts of nutrients available for sustaining seedling development and recruitment.

Strategies CSR: according to the CSR triangle theory there is a triple trade-off between the capacity to compete for resources, to regenerate after disturbances and to survive to stressful conditions. Plant species can be allocated in a triangle, where their position is determined by their relative proportion of each of those three strategies: competitiveness (C%), stress-tolerance (S%) and ruderalism (R%). The color of each card reflects the CSR strategy of each species. Red cards indicate higher competitiveness, green cards indicate high stress-tolerance and blue cards indicate high ruderalism.