Evolutionary radiations of woody taxa within arid environments were made possible by multiple trait innovations including deep roots and embolism-resistant xylem, but little is known about how these traits have coevolved across the phylogeny of woody plants or how they jointly influence the distribution of species. We synthesized global trait and vegetation plot datasets to examine how rooting depth and xylem vulnerability across 188 woody plant species interact with aridity, precipitation seasonality, and water table depth to influence species occurrence probabilities across all biomes. Xylem resistance to embolism and rooting depth are independent woody plant traits that do not exhibit an interspecific trade-off. Resistant xylem and deep roots increase occurrence probabilities in arid, seasonal climates over deep water tables. Resistant xylem and shallow roots increase occurrence probabilities in arid, nonseasonal climates over deep water tables. Vulnerable xylem and deep roots increase occurrence probabilities in arid, nonseasonal climates over shallow water tables. Lastly, vulnerable xylem and shallow roots increase occurrence probabilities in humid climates. Each combination of trait values optimizes occurrence probabilities in unique environmental conditions. Responses of deeply rooted vegetation may be buffered if evaporative demand changes faster than water table depth under climate change.

Agronomy Department University of Florida Gainesville FL 32611 USA

Biodiversity Research Institute Mieres Asturias Spain

BIOME Lab Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna Via Irnerio 42 40126 Bologna Italy

Botanical Garden Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw Poland

Botany and Microbiology Department Tanta University Tanta 3527 Egypt

Botany Unit Department of Pharmacology Pharmacognosy and Botany Faculty of Pharmacy Universidad Complutense de Madrid Madrid Spain

CIRAD UPR Forêts et Sociétés F 34398 Montpellier France

CREAF Cerdanyola del Vallès 08193 Barcelona Catalonia Spain

Crop Science and Plant Biology Estonian University of Life Sciences Tartu 51006 Estonia

Department of Biological Science Andong National University Andong si 36729 South Korea

Department of Biology University of Copenhagen 2100 Copenhagen Ø Denmark

Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Universitiy of Vienna 1030 Vienna Austria

Department of Botany and Nature Protection University of Warmia and Mazury Olsztyn Poland

Department of Botany Faculty of Science University of South Bohemia Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic

Department of Botany University of Wyoming Laramie WY 82071 USA

Department of Environmental Biology Sapienza University of Rome Rome 00185 Italy

Department of Forestry and Environmental Science Shahjalal University of Science and Technology Sylhet Bangladesh

Department of Functional Ecology Institute of Botany Czech Academy of Sciences Trebon Czech Republic

Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 165 21 Praha 6 Suchdol Czech Republic

Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology University of Zagreb 10000 Zagreb Croatia

Forêts et Sociétés Univ Montpellier CIRAD Montpellier France

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle Jena Leipzig Leipzig 04103 Germany

Global Ecology Unit CREAF CSIC UAB CSIC Bellaterra 08193 Barcelona Catalonia Spain

Great Lakes Forestry Centre Canadian Forest Service Natural Resources Canada Sault Ste Marie Ontario P6A 2E5 Canada

Harvard Forest Harvard University Petersham MA 01366 USA

ICREA 08010 Barcelona Spain

Institut de recherche sur les forêts Université du Québec en Abitibi Témiscamingue 445 boul de l'université Rouyn Noranda Québec J9X5E4 Canada

Institute of Biology and Geobotany and Botanical Garden Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg Halle 06108 Germany

Institute of Biology Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Ss Cyril and Methodius University 1000 Skopje North Macedonia

Institute of Botany Ulm University Albert Einstein Allee 11 Ulm 89081 Germany

Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research Lincoln 7640 New Zealand

Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena Germany

Naturalis Biodiversity Center Darwinweg 2 2333 CR Leiden the Netherlands

Palmengarten der Stadt Frankfurt am Main 60323 Frankfurt am Main Germany

Plant Ecology and Ecosystems Research University of Goettingen 37073 Goettingen Germany

Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group Environmental Sciences Department Wageningen University and Research 6700 AA Wageningen the Netherlands

Plant Ecology Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research University of Bayreuth 95447 Bayreuth Germany

Plant Sciences Institute of Biology Leiden Leiden University Sylviusweg 72 2333 BE Leiden the Netherlands

Research School of Biology Australian National University Canberra ACT Australia

Resource Management HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts 37077 Goettingen Germany

School of Geography University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT UK

School of Geography University of Nottingham University Park Nottingham NG7 2RD UK

School of Geosciences University of Edinburgh Edinburgh UK

UMR CNRS 7058 Ecologie et Dynamique des Systèmes Anthropisés Université de Picardie Jules Verne 80000 Amiens France

Vegetation Ecology Research Group Institute of Natural Resource Sciences 8820 Wädenswil Switzerland

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