Forests recycle roughly ~62,000 km3 of water to the atmosphere annually. The transport of water from the subsurface to roots, stems, and leaves out through stomata, and into the atmosphere links the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum while coupling Earth’s water and carbon cycles. This biological process is regulated dynamically and often varies substantially between species in the same ecosystem in response to multiple and often combined internal and external stressors. We will analyze vignettes from two distinct ecosystems and their responses to different sets of combined stressors to gain new insight into plant function. First, we will visit mangrove ecosystems exposed to both atmospheric dryness and salinity extremes to explore how water transport regulation strategies shift from leaves to roots to maximize productivity while maintaining hydraulic function. Then we will visit semi-arid woody savanna to detangle to combined influence of soil water limitation and atmospheric aridity on wood-water storage in drought tolerant trees. Understanding the storage and transport of water through soil, woody biomass, and leaves in this and many other ecosystems is critical for predicting forest resilience, carbon sequestration, and wildfire susceptibility. Finally, we will assess the implications of both studies for the ways we simulate the dynamic regulation of water acquisition, storage, and use by trees and how these findings can directly improve predictions of forest water, carbon, and energy cycles from coastlines to the continental interior.