{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T10:54:46Z","timestamp":1791370486832,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":87,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Intensified drought induced by climate change is threatening the natural regeneration of forests, yet coexisting tree species can maintain their survival and regeneration by adopting divergent carbon allocation strategies. This study compared leaf-scale drought responses of\n                      <jats:italic>Quercus variabilis<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>Q. mongolica<\/jats:italic>\n                      seedlings originating from the ecotone of the Zhongtiao Mountains.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Multiple indicators were measured under four water regimes: control (CK), light drought (LD), moderate drought (MD), and severe drought (SD), including leaf morphology, photosynthetic and gas exchange parameters, hydraulic traits, carbon storage traits, stress defense traits, and nutrient stoichiometry. Principal component analysis (PCA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to evaluate interspecific differences in drought adaptation strategies.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Drought suppressed leaf growth and gas exchange, lowered leaf water potential and relative water content, aggravated damage to hydraulic function, and boosted biochemical responses associated with stress defense in both species. For\n                      <jats:italic>Q. variabilis<\/jats:italic>\n                      , leaf non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations were tightly correlated with growth-related traits, indicating that NSCs play a vital role in sustaining growth and accumulating carbon after growth limitation, reflecting a growth-prioritized resource allocation strategy. In contrast, leaf NSCs of\n                      <jats:italic>Q. mongolica<\/jats:italic>\n                      seedlings exhibited stronger coordinated covariation with stomatal behavior and antioxidant defenses, suggesting that this species prioritizes defense maintenance and physiological stability under drought stress, representing a defense-prioritized resource allocation strategy.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Seedlings of\n                      <jats:italic>Q. variabilis<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>Q. mongolica<\/jats:italic>\n                      adopt growth-prioritized and defense-prioritized adaptation strategies under drought, respectively. Such physiological divergence serves as a physiological foundation for niche differentiation, divergent regeneration patterns, and coexistence of seedlings of the two Quercus species within the ecotone.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1941405","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T10:35:23Z","timestamp":1791369323000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Growth\u2013defense trade-offs in Quercus variabilis and Quercus mongolica seedlings under drought stress"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Zhigang","family":"Xue","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University","place":["Taigu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shangyong","family":"Yin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University","place":["Taigu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuedong","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University","place":["Taigu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kejia","family":"Cui","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University","place":["Taigu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lei","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University","place":["Taigu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xingpeng","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University","place":["Taigu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hao","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University","place":["Taigu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Runmei","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University","place":["Taigu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jinhua","family":"Bai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Forestry, Shanxi Agricultural University","place":["Taigu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2254","DOI":"10.1111\/pce.13813","article-title":"Starch biosynthesis contributes to the maintenance of photosynthesis and leaf growth under drought stress in maize","volume":"43","author":"AbdElgawad","year":"2020","journal-title":"Plant Cell Environ."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"121","DOI":"10.1016\/S0076-6879(84)05016-3","article-title":"Catalase in vitro","volume":"105","author":"Aebi","year":"1984","journal-title":"Methods Enzymol."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"305","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-61153-8_14","article-title":"Role of soluble sugars in metabolism and sensing under abiotic stress","volume-title":"Plant Growth Regulators: Signalling Under Stress Conditions","author":"Afzal","year":"2021"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1029","DOI":"10.1111\/gcb.13148","article-title":"Drought stress limits the geographic ranges of two tree species via different physiological mechanisms","volume":"22","author":"Anderegg","year":"2016","journal-title":"Glob. 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