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Given the pressing challenges posed by climate change, it is crucial to develop a deeper understanding of the impacts of escalating drought and heat stress on terrestrial ecosystems and the vital services they offer. Soil and plant water potential play a pivotal role in governing the dynamics of water within ecosystems and exert direct control over plant function and mortality risk during periods of ecological stress. However, existing observations of water potential suffer from significant limitations, including their sporadic and discontinuous nature, inconsistent representation of relevant spatio-temporal scales and numerous methodological challenges. These limitations hinder the comprehensive and synthetic research needed to enhance our conceptual understanding and predictive models of plant function and survival under limited moisture availability. In this article, we present PSInet (PSI—for the Greek letter Ψ used to denote water potential), a novel collaborative network of researchers and data, designed to bridge the current critical information gap in water potential data. The primary objectives of PSInet are as follows. (i) Establishing the first openly accessible global database for time series of plant and soil water potential measurements, while providing important linkages with other relevant observation networks. (ii) Fostering an inclusive and diverse collaborative environment for all scientists studying water potential in various stages of their careers. (iii) Standardizing methodologies, processing and interpretation of water potential data through the engagement of a global community of scientists, facilitated by the dissemination of standardized protocols, best practices and early career training opportunities. (iv) Facilitating the use of the PSInet database for synthesizing knowledge and addressing prominent gaps in our understanding of plants’ physiological responses to various environmental stressors. The PSInet initiative is integral to meeting the fundamental research challenge of discerning which plant species will thrive and which will be vulnerable in a world undergoing rapid warming and increasing aridification. 

Abstract Winter annuals comprise a large fraction of warm-desert plant species, but the drivers of their diversity are little understood. One factor that has generally been overlooked is the lack of obvious means of long-distance seed dispersal in many desert-annual lineages, which could lead to genetic differentiation at small spatial scales and, ultimately, to speciation and narrow endemism. If our gene-flow hypothesis is correct, individual winter-annual species should have populations with genetic spatial structures implying short distances of gene flow. To test this idea, we sampled six populations of Eschscholzia parishii (Papaveraceae) in three pairs of watersheds within a 28-km radius in southern California. We quantified genetic diversity and structure and inferred the distance of gene flow in these populations using single nucleotide polymorphisms derived from genotyping-by-sequencing. Estimated distances of gene flow were quite small (σ = 10.4–14.9 m), with strong genetic structure observed within and between populations. Kinship declined steeply with ln distance (r2 = 0.85). Petal size and shape differed significantly between the northernmost and southernmost populations. These findings support the hypothesis that the high diversity of warm-desert winter annuals might result, in part, from genetic differentiation within species at small spatial scales driven by poor seed dispersal. 

Abstract The vast majority of measurements in the field of plant hydraulics have been on small‐diameter branches from woody species. These measurements have provided considerable insight into plant functioning, but our understanding of plant physiology and ecology would benefit from a broader view, because branch hydraulic properties are influenced by many factors. Here, we discuss the influence that other components of the hydraulic network have on branch vulnerability to embolism propagation. We also modelled the impact of changes in the ratio of root‐to‐leaf areas and soil texture on vulnerability to hydraulic failure along the soil‐to‐leaf continuum and showed that hydraulic function is better maintained through changes in root vulnerability and root‐to‐leaf area ratio than in branch vulnerability. Differences among species in the stringency with which they regulate leaf water potential and in reliance on stored water to buffer changes in water potential also affect the need to construct embolism resistant branches. Many approaches, such as measurements on fine roots, small individuals, combining sap flow and psychrometry techniques, and modelling efforts, could vastly improve our understanding of whole‐plant hydraulic functioning. A better understanding of how traits are coordinated across the whole plant will improve predictions for plant function under future climate conditions.