Tasas diarias de transpiración y relaciones hídricas en especies arbóreas con distinto nivel de sombra tolerancia en un bosque templado chileno

in general, pioneer species are known for supporting high transpiration, growth and photosynthesis rate, for being more drought tolerant and resist higher temperatures than shade-tolerant species. however, there is not information about rates of transpiration at the tree level in species of chilean temperate forest, or about the coordination between hydraulic functional traits. we report here, transpiration rates of four tree species with different levels of shade tolerance in chilean temperate rainforest, and explored some functional traits associated with water transport efficiency and drought tolerance. we found significant differences in daily transpiration rates ranging between 0.07 and 0.01 lcm-2day-1 in nothofagus dombeyi (mirb.) oerst. and laureliopsisphilippiana (looser) schodde respectively. contrary to expectations, specific hydraulic conductivity (ks ) and leaf hydraulic conductivity (kl) were not well correlated with transpiration daily rates. however, the species less tolerant to shade showed traits associated with greater drought tolerance, while the semi-tolerant eucryphia cordifolia cav. showed important evidence of hydraulic restrictions during summer.