Climate and soil are among the most important factors determining variation in tree communities, but their effects have not been thoroughly elucidated to date for many vegetation features. In this study, we evaluate how climate and soil gradients affect gradients of vegetation composition, species diversity and dominance, structure and functional traits (seed mass and wood density) using over 327 000 trees in 158 sites distributed along environmental gradients in the transitions among the Atlantic forest, Cerrado and Caatinga in Minas Gerais State (MG), Brazil (nearly 600 000 km²). Gradients in species, genus and family abundance in addition to basal area, stem density, species diversity (Fisher’s alpha), dominance percentage, seed mass and wood density were correlated using multiple regressions with environmental variables, as summarized in four principal component analysis axes (two climatic—precipitation seasonality and temperature range—and two edaphic—soil fertility and soil moisture). Additionally, ordinary kriging maps were used to better illustrate the gradients. Multiple regression models indicate that all variables but dominance percentage were affected by one or more of the environmental gradients, but the average R² was low (26.25%). Kriging maps reinforced the patterns observed in the regression models. Precipitation seasonality and soil moisture gradients were the most important gradients affecting vegetation features. This finding suggests that water availability is an important determinant of vegetation features in these vegetation transitions.

Information on evapotranspiration (ET) has the potential to clarify drought’s effects on the water balance of natural ecosystems. Here, we use a 6-year dataset to present daily ET trends under different drought conditions in a seasonally dry Atlantic Forest in southeast Brazil as well as environmental and biophysical controls. Generalized linear models (GLMs) were applied to highlight the main controls on ET. Significant differences for ET were not found under different drought conditions (near normal, moderately dry, and severely dry). ET responded positively to net radiation (R_n), bulk surface (g_s), and aerodynamic (g_a) conductance. Drought severity and soil water storage (SWS) did not significantly affect ET. We attributed the regularization of ET to (i) the stability in the SWS observed in the study site (dystrophic red latosol); (ii) the tree species’ adaptations to cope with water stress; (iii) the alternation between droughts and near-normal conditions (which have increased the water in the system on an annual basis); and (iv) the monthly variations in water inputs within the hydrological years. Finally, our study sheds light on the ecosystem characteristics that may represent sources of resilience when facing the droughts predicted in climate change scenarios.