Stomatal behavior moderates water cost of CO 2 acquisition for 21 boreal and temperate species under experimental climate change.

The linkage of stomatal behavior with photosynthesis is critical to understanding water and carbon cycles under global change. The relationship of stomatal conductance (g s ) and CO 2 assimilation (A net ) across a range of environmental contexts, as represented in the model parameter (g 1 ), has served as a proxy of the marginal water cost of carbon acquisition. We use g 1 to assess species differences in stomatal behavior to a decade of open-air experimental climate change manipulations, asking whether generalizable patterns exist across species and climate contexts. A net -g s measurements (17,727) for 21 boreal and temperate tree species under ambient and +3.3°C warming, and ambient and ~40% summer rainfall reduction, provided >2,700 estimates of g 1 . Warming and/or reduced rainfall treatments both lowered g 1 because those treatments resulted in lower soil moisture, and because stomatal behavior changed more in warming when soil moisture was low. Species tended to respond similarly, although in species from warmer and drier habitats g 1 tended to be slightly higher and to be the least sensitive to the decrease in soil water. Overall, both warming and rainfall reduction consistently made stomatal behavior more conservative in terms of water loss per unit carbon gain across 21 species and a decade of experimental observation. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.