Modelling seasonal and diurnal dynamics of stomatal conductance of plants in a semiarid environment

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiong Gao ◽  
Mei Yu ◽  
Xinshi Zhang ◽  
Hongmei Xu ◽  
Yongmei Huang

Seasonal and diurnal stomatal conductance, leaf transpiration, and soil water contents of two shrubs of Hippophae rhamnoides L. subsp. Sinensis Rousi and Caragana korshinskii Kom., two trees of Malus pomila Mill. and Robinia pseudoacacia L., and a forb, Artemisia gmelinii, were measured in field of the semiarid Loess Plateau, north China, during the growing season of 2002. We developed a dynamic, nonlinear semi-mechanistic model to relate stomatal conductance of these plants to soil water potential, incident photon flux density, vapour pressure deficit, and partial CO2 pressure, on leaf surface. The model can be easily adapted to ecosystem simulation because of its mathematical simplicity. Guard-cell osmotic pressure at zero light intensity, apparent elastic modulus of guard cells per leaf area, half-saturation light intensity, maximum light-inducible osmotic pressure, soil-to-leaf resistance at zero plant water potential, sensitivity of soil-to-leaf resistance to xylem water potential, and plant body water capacitance, are independent parameters of the model. The model was fitted to the field data of the five species with a non-linear least-square algorithm to obtain the parameters. The result indicates that the model explained, on average, 88% of seasonal and diurnal variation of stomatal conductance for the five species, in comparison with 67% of variation explained by an early model without plant body water capacitance. Comparisons of the physiological parameters among the species show that the woody species exhibited more tolerance for water stresses than the forb because of their higher dark osmotic pressure, greater capability of seasonal and diurnal osmotic regulation, and stiffer guard cell structure (or smaller stomatal density or both). A decreasing trend of soil-to-leaf resistance from the trees to the shrubs to the forb was found in this study. Midday depression of transpiration and stomatal conductance may or may not occur, depending on the magnitude of body water capacitance.

1986 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. Price ◽  
T. A. Black ◽  
F. M. Kelliher

The effects of salal (Gaultheriashallon Pursh.) understory removal on the growth of thinned 32-year-old Douglas-fir (Pseudotsugamenziesii (Mirb.) Franco) trees were determined in a stand subject to growing season soil water deficits. Four pairs of similar trees were selected and the understory was completely removed from around one of each pair, the root zones of which were both isolated using plastic sheeting buried to bedrock. Photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, soil water potential and canopy microclimate were measured intensively in one pair on 4 clear days during an extended dry period in June 1982. Basal area increment of the four pairs of trees was measured over three growing seasons. To determine the effect of soil water potential on tree photosynthesis, the same variables were intensively measured over 3 consecutive days in late August 1982 for another tree initially subjected to a soil water potential of approximately −1.6 MPa, but irrigated to approximately −0.02 MPa between the 1st and 2nd days. Solar irradiance decreased markedly between the 2nd and 3rd days, thereby creating a unique data set. Findings were as follows: (i) removal of understory significantly increased rates of photosynthesis in the trees, both diurnally and seasonally, (ii) photosynthesis was not generally limited by stomatal conductance unless vapour pressure deficit was high and photon flux density was saturating, and (iii) tree growth response to salal removal was due to higher soil water potential, which increased both photosynthetic capacity and stomatal conductance.


1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masako Mishio ◽  
Naoki Kachi

Stomatal conductance and leaf water potential at around noon, pre-dawn leaf water potential, pressure–volume parameters, and leaf structural characteristics including leaf thickness, leaf dry mass per unit area and turgid leaf water content per unit area were compared between a coastal shrub species, Eurya emarginata (Thunb.) Makino and an inland shrub species, E. japonica Thunb. The pre-dawn leaf water potential was only slightly lower in E. emarginata than in E. japonica, and the environmental conditions such as the photosynthetic photon flux density and the vapour pressure deficit did not differ obviously between the two habitats. No apparent differences were observed in the pressure–volume parameters between the two species. On the other hand, E. emarginata had much higher stomatal conductance and significantly thicker leaves with higher turgid leaf water content per unit area than E. japonica. The thicker leaf with higher water content on an area basis in E. emarginata maintains adequate leaf turgor pressure against a higher rate of transpiration.


1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
NZ Saliendra ◽  
FC Meinzer

Stomatal conductance, leaf and soil water status, transpiration, and apparent root hydraulic conductance were measured during soil drying cycles for three sugarcane cultivars growing in containers in a greenhouse. At high soil moisture, transpiration and apparent root hydraulic conductance differed considerably among cultivars and were positively correlated, whereas leaf water potential was similar among cultivars. In drying soil, stomatal and apparent root hydraulic conductance approached zero over a narrow (0.1 MPa) range of soil water suction. Leaf water potential remained nearly constant during soil drying because the vapor phase conductance of the leaves and the apparent liquid phase conductance of the root system declined in parallel. The decline in apparent root hydraulic conductance with soil drying was manifested as a large increase in the hydrostatic pressure gradient between the soil and the root xylem. These results suggested that control of stomatal conductance in sugarcane plants exposed to drying soil was exerted primarily at the root rather than at the leaf level.


1978 ◽  
Vol 18 (92) ◽  
pp. 423 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Fisher

Following burning (day 0) of a water-stressed sward of green panic and siratro, measurements were made both on unburned plants and on regrowth of burned plants of leaf water potential (�s) and stomatal conductance (gs) at 1.00 p.m. and of leaf extension. In the unburned plants �s, remained low (-23 to -45 bar for green panic, and -14 to -18 bar for siratro), the stomata were closed and no growth occurred. In the burned plants of both species, however, �s on day 12 was -9 to -11 bars, the stomata were open and growth occurred, presumably because the complete defoliation allowed the plants to make use of a limited store of soil water at higher water potential. In green panic �s fell rapidly, and growth stopped after day 19, but �s and g, in siratro were still high on day 28. Burning of droughted native pastures is a common management practice in the semi-arid tropics of Australia. The data may explain how the pastures are able to make the new growth that frequently occurs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Carminati ◽  
Mathieu Javaux

<p>There is increasing need for mechanistic and predictive models of transpiration and stomatal response to drought. Global measurements of transpiration showed that the decrease in soil moisture is a primary constrain on transpiration. Additionally, a recent meta-analysis indicated that stomatal closure is explained by the loss in soil hydraulic conductivity, more than that of the xylem. Despite these evidences on the role of soil drying as a key driver of transpiration reduction, the mechanisms by which soil drying impacts transpiration, including the effect of different soil hydraulic properties, are not fully understood.</p><p>Here, we propose that stomata regulate transpiration in such a way that the relation between transpiration and the difference in water potential between soil and leaves remains linear during soil drying and increasing vapor pressure deficit (VPD). The onset of hydraulic nonlinearity sets the maximum stomatal conductance at a given soil water potential and VPD. The resulting trajectory of the stomatal conductance for varying soil water potentials and VPD depends on soil and plant hydraulics, with the soil hydraulic conductivity and root length being the most sensitive parameters.</p><p>From this hydraulic framework it follows that stomatal closure is not simply a function of soil moisture, soil water potential or leaf water potential. Instead, it depends on transpiration demand and soil-plant hydraulics in a predictable way. The proposed concept allows to predict transpiration reductions during drought with a limited number of parameters: transpiration demand, plant hydraulic conductivity, soil hydraulic conductivity and active root length. In conclusion, this framework highlights the role of the soil hydraulic conductivity as primary constrain on transpiration, and thus on stomatal conductance and photosynthesis.</p>


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 115-121
Author(s):  
K. Poudyal

Quercus semecarpifolia is a high altitude oak and dominant species of central Himalayan vegetation.In the central Himalaya, plants are subjected to a prolonged dry period, thus developing moisturestress. Soil water potential at 15 cm and 30 cm depth, predawn and midday leaf water potential andtheir relationship with stomatal conductance and phenological behaviour was studied at PhulchowkiHill, Kathmandu to evaluate the drought adaptation strategy of Q. semecarpifolia in a pure stand at2130 m elevation. The natural ecosystem of Himalayan region has a characteristic climatic pattern ofconcentrated rainfall and a prolonged dry season which have a strong effect on the adaptability of thisspecies. It maintained a high predawn leaf water potential (ΨL pd) and stomatal conductance (gw)despite low soil water Ψ and ΨL pd . Lowest Ψs and ΨL pd were observed in March 1999, when therewas almost no rain for five months. Mean ΨL pd and ΨL md were (–1.79 and –2.29 MPa, respectively).Patterns of ΨL pd and ΨL md correlated significantly with soil Ψ, and phenology as ΨL pd oftenincreased during leafing but not with gw.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/eco.v20i0.11473ECOPRINT An International Journal of EcologyVol. 20, 2013page: 115-121


1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (11) ◽  
pp. 2789-2791 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Wayne Tyndall ◽  
Alan H. Teramura ◽  
Larry W. Douglass

Soil water potential, leaf water potential, and stomatal conductance of Cakile edentula (Bigelow) Hooker were compared between beach and foredune habitats on Currituck Bank, North Carolina. All three variables were significantly lower on the foredune than on the beach. Low soil water potential on the foredune may contribute to low survival and growth inhibition by lowering leaf water potential and stomatal conductance.


1981 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 347 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Fisher ◽  
DA Charles-Edwards ◽  
MM Ludlow

The response was measured of stomatal conductance and leaf photosynthesis to changing leaf water potential in the legume siratro subjected to a sequence of I-week cycles of increasing soil water deficit followed by watering. The response of stomatal conductance was described using a continuous mathematical function, which is more robust and accurate than the usual discontinuous linear function used to analyse such data. After seven successive cycles of water deficit, there was no apparent adjustment of the short-term response of leaf conductance to leaf water potential.


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