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Species distribution is strongly driven by local and global gradients in water availability but the underlying mechanisms are not clear. Vulnerability to xylem embolism (P-50) is a key trait that indicates how species cope with drought and might explain plant distribution patterns across environmental gradients. Here we address its role on species sorting along a hydro-topographical gradient in a central Amazonian rainforest and examine its variance at the community scale.

We measured P-50 for 28 tree species, soil properties and estimated the hydrological niche of each species using an indicator of distance to the water table (HAND).

We found a large hydraulic diversity, covering as much as 44% of the global angiosperm variation in P-50. We show that P-50: contributes to species segregation across a hydro-topographic gradient in the Amazon, and thus to species coexistence; is the result of repeated evolutionary adaptation within closely related taxa; is associated with species tolerance to P-poor soils, suggesting the evolution of a stress-tolerance syndrome to nutrients and drought; and is higher for trees in the valleys than uplands.

The large observed hydraulic diversity and its association with topography has important implications for modelling and predicting forest and species resilience to climate change.