Effects of nitrogen deposition, drought and their interaction, on functional and structural traits of fraxinus ornus L. and quercus ilex L.

A controlled experiment was conducted in order to understand how functional and structural traits of species with different leaf habits (Fraxinus ornus and Quercus ilex) shift as a consequence of nitrogen (N) addition (30 Kg ha yr-1), and to explore the effect that nitrogen has on the water stress response. The experiment was divided in two stages: stage I, nitrogen addition under well water condition; stage II, nitrogen addition under drought. Functionality of the photosynthetic machinery, growth and biomass partitioning were assessed. The N content at leaf level increases in F. ornus only, that invests resources on photosynthetic machinery, whereas Q. ilex tends to store N in non-photosynthetic biomass, increasing relative growth rate and biomass, resulting in different allometric ratio. This effect may had a role in water stress response. Stomatal conductance of Q. ilex treated with N and subjected to water stress is lower relative to drought treatment. On the contrary, F. ornus takes advantage of N addition that has ameliorative effects on its functionality when drought was imposed. The obtained results, highlighting response mechanisms to multiple stress factors, should help to better understand and assess the performance of forest ecosystem under the foreseen environmental changes.