Sex-specific responses of Populus cathayana to drought and elevated temperatures

Dioecious plant species represent an important component of terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, little is known about sex-specific responses to drought and elevated temperatures. Populus cathayana Rehd, which is a dioecious, deciduous tree species, widely distributed in the northern, central and southwestern regions of China, was employed as a model species in our study. In closed-top chamber experiments, sex-specific morphological, physiological and biochemical responses of P. cathayana to drought and different elevated temperatures were investigated. Compared with the controls, drought significantly decreased the growth and the net photosynthesis rate (A), and increased the intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi), carbon isotope composition (delta C-13), and the malondialdehyde (MDA) and abscisic acid (ABA) contents in droughted plants. In contrast, elevated temperatures significantly promoted the growth and the A, but decreased the WUEi, delta C-13, MDA and ABA contents in well-watered individuals. When compared with males, elevated temperatures induced well-watered females to express a greater increase in the height growth (HG), basal diameter (BD), leaf area (LA), total number of leaves (TNL), dry matter accumulation (DMA) and specific leaf area (SLA), and a lower decrease in the A value, transpiration (E), stomatal conductance (g(s)), MDA and ABA contents, while elevated temperatures induced drought-stressed females to exhibit lower values of HG, BD, LA, TNL, DMA, A, E, g(s) and the intercellular CO2 concentration (C-i), and higher levels of SLA, WUEi, delta C-13, MDA and ABA contents. Our results indicated that the female individuals of P. cathayana are more responsive and suffer from greater negative effects than do males when grown under environments with increased drought stress and elevated temperature.