Optimal plant water use strategies explain soil moisture variability

Plant responses to water stress influence and carbon cycles can lead feedbacks on climate yet characterizing these at ecosystem levels remains uncertain. Quantifying ecosystem-level use strategies is complex due challenges of upscaling plant traits disentangling confounding environmental factors, ultimately limiting our ability understand anticipate global change in dynamics ecohydrological fluxes. We reduce the dimensionality this problem quantify by combining with soil variables into parameter groups that synthesize key eco-physiological tradeoffs. Using a parsimonious balance framework, we explore variations uptake capacity, responses, performance via non-dimensional groups. The group synchronization transport atmospheric demand emerges as primary axis variation interacts representing hydraulic risk tolerance, especially arid conditions when limiting. Next, show specific maximize (leading gain benefits) weighted risks higher costs use). A model-data comparison demonstrates ecohydrologically optimal capture observed moisture variability 40 ecosystems beyond aridity, rainfall frequency an important control for strategies. emerging link between parameters provides tractable representation strategies, relevant parameterize models while accounting ecological evolutionary constraints cycle.