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Summary The potential for widespread sink‐limited plant growth has received increasing attention in the literature in the past few years. Despite recent evidence for sink limitations to plant growth, there are reasons to be cautious about a sink‐limited world view. First, source‐limited vegetation models do a reasonable job at capturing geographic patterns in plant productivity and responses to resource limitations. Second, from an evolutionary perspective, it is nonadaptive for plants to invest in increasing carbon assimilation if growth is primarily sink‐limited. In this review, we synthesize the potential evidence for and underlying physiology of sink limitation across terrestrial ecosystems and contrast mechanisms of sink limitation with those of source‐limited productivity. We highlight evolutionary restrictions on the magnitude of sink limitation at the organismal level. We also detail where mechanisms regulating sink limitation at the organismal and ecosystem scale (e.g. the terrestrial carbon sink) diverge. Although we find that there is currently no direct evidence for widespread organismal sink limitation, we propose a series of follow‐up growth chamber manipulations, systematized measurements, and modeling experiments targeted at diagnosing nonadaptive buildup of excess nonstructural carbohydrates that will help illuminate the prevalence and magnitude of organismal sink limitation. 

Data and code, including isofit anaylsis, and code/figures for publication. 

Data from repeated measurements of predawn and midday water potentials on Quercus agrifolia and Quercus douglassi trees at Sedgwick Reserve, CA, USA from 2022 - 2024. The data includes the following columns: Column name Description individual_id Unique numeric ID for individual tree site Name of site location, represents a spatially distinct group of trees species Quercus agrifolia and Quercus douglassii date date of data collection, in YYYYMMDD pd_md Indicates whether measurements were taken at predawn (pd, 1-3 hours before sunrise) or midday (md, within 1.5 hours of solar noon) water_potential_mean Mean water potential measurements for each tree/date/time (MPa). water_potential_sd Standard deviation of water potential measurements for each tree/date/time (MPa) water_potential_n Number of water potential measurements for each tree/date/time latitude Location of individual tree, latitude in decimal degrees longitude Location of individual tree, longitude in decimal degrees coord_system EPSG:4326-WGS 84 For details on collection methods, see: Boving I, Allen J, Brodrick PG, Chadwick KD, Trugman A, Anderegg LDL. The Unstable Relationship Between Drought Status and Leaf Water Content Complicates the Remote Sensing of Tree Drought Stress. Glob Chang Biol. 2025 Apr;31(4):e70188. doi: 10.1111/gcb.70188. PMID: 40249004; PMCID: PMC12007071. 

Increasing heatwaves are threatening forest ecosystems globally. Leaf thermal regulation and tolerance are important for plant survival during heatwaves, though the interaction between these processes and water availability is unclear. Genotypes of the widely distributed foundation tree speciesPopulus fremontiiwere studied in a controlled common garden during a record summer heatwave—where air temperature exceeded 48 °C. When water was not limiting, all genotypes cooled leaves 2 to 5 °C below air temperatures. Homeothermic cooling was disrupted for weeks following a 72-h reduction in soil water, resulting in leaf temperatures rising 3 °C above air temperature and 1.3 °C above leaf thresholds for physiological damage, despite the water stress having little effect on leaf water potentials. Tradeoffs between leaf thermal safety and hydraulic safety emerged but, regardless of water use strategy, all genotypes experienced significant leaf mortality following water stress. Genotypes from warmer climates showed greater leaf cooling and less leaf mortality after water stress in comparison with genotypes from cooler climates. These results illustrate how brief soil water limitation disrupts leaf thermal regulation and potentially compromises plant survival during extreme heatwaves, thus providing insight into future scenarios in which ecosystems will be challenged with extreme heat and unreliable soil water access.