scholarly journals Stomatal behavior of four woody species in relation to leaf-specific hydraulic conductance and threshold water potential

1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 503-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Bond ◽  
K. L. Kavanagh
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. 20200456
Author(s):  
Chao-Long Yan ◽  
Ming-Yuan Ni ◽  
Kun-Fang Cao ◽  
Shi-Dan Zhu

Leaf hydraulic conductance and the vulnerability to water deficits have profound effects on plant distribution and mortality. In this study, we compiled a leaf hydraulic trait dataset with 311 species-at-site combinations from biomes worldwide. These traits included maximum leaf hydraulic conductance ( K leaf ), water potential at 50% loss of K leaf (P50 leaf ), and minimum leaf water potential ( Ψ min ). Leaf hydraulic safety margin (HSM leaf ) was calculated as the difference between Ψ min and P50 leaf . Our results indicated that 70% of the studied species had a narrow HSM leaf (less than 1 MPa), which was consistent with the global pattern of stem hydraulic safety margin. There was a positive relationship between HSM leaf and aridity index (the ratio of mean annual precipitation to potential evapotranspiration), as species from humid sites tended to have larger HSM leaf . We found a significant relationship between K leaf and P50 leaf across global angiosperm woody species and within each of the different plant groups. This global analysis of leaf hydraulic traits improves our understanding of plant hydraulic response to environmental change.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. e007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Christophe Domec ◽  
Sari Palmroth ◽  
Ram Oren

Silvicultural practices (e.g., nitrogen addition through fertilization) and environmental changes (e.g., elevated [CO2]) may alter needle structure, impacting mass and energy exchange between the biosphere and atmosphere through alteration of stomatal function. Hydraulic resistances in leaves, controlling the mass and energy exchanges, occur both in the xylem and in the flow paths across the mesophyll to evaporation sites, and therefore largely depends on the structure of the leaf. We used the Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) experiment, providing a unique setting for assessing the interaction effects of [CO2] and nitrogen (N) supply to examine how leaf morphological and anatomical characteristics control leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) trees subjected to ambient or elevated (+200 ppmv) CO2 concentrations (CO2a and CO2e, respectively) and to soil nitrogen amendment (N). Our study revealed that CO2e decreased the number of tracheids per needle, and increased the distance from the xylem vascular bundle to the stomata cavities, perturbing the leaf hydraulic system. Both treatments induced a decrease in Kleaf, and CO2e also decreased leaf extravascular conductance (Kextravascular), the conductance to water flow from the xylem to the leaf-internal air space. Decline in Kleaf under CO2e was driven by the decline in Kextravascular, potentially due to longer path for water movement through the mesophyll, explaining the decline in stomatal conductance (gs) observed under CO2e. This suggests that the distance from vascular conduits to stomata sub-cavity was a major constraint of leaf water transport. Across treatments our results showed that needle vein conductivity was slightly more limited by the lumen than by the bordered-pits, the latter accounting for 30-45% of vein resistance. CO2e-induced reduction in Kleaf was also consistent with an increased resistance to xylem collapse due to thicker cell wall. In addition, stomatal closure corresponded to the water potential inducing a reduction in 50% of leaf vascular conductance (Kvascular) via xylem wall rupture. The water potential that was estimated to induce complete xylem wall collapse was related to the water potential at turgor loss. Our study provided a framework for understanding the interaction between CO2e and N availability in affecting leaf anatomy, and the mechanisms for the response of Kleaf to the treatments. These mechanisms can be incorporated into predictive models of gs, critical for estimating forest productivity in water limited environments in current and future climates and a landscape composed of sites of a range in soil N fertility. 


2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Maurel ◽  
Cécile Robin ◽  
Thierry Simonneau ◽  
Denis Loustau ◽  
Erwin Dreyer ◽  
...  

The effects of root infection by Phytophthora cinnamomi on stomatal conductance in Castanea sativa L. saplings were investigated to determine the potential role of root-derived chemical signals. A split-root experiment was carried out, in which inoculation of the pathogen or drought was applied to the root systems in either one or both compartments. At the end of the experiment plant sap extracts were collected and their effects on stomatal conductance were determined by leaf bioassay. Inoculation or drought imposed in both compartments resulted in decreases in stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration rate, soil-to-leaf specific hydraulic conductance, leaf water potential, xylem [ABA] and root biomass, but not in the ratio of root-to-leaf mass in inoculated plants. Conversely, only gs and xylem [ABA] were affected in plants inoculated or droughted in one compartment, and no changes were detectable in leaf water potential and soil-to-leaf specific hydraulic conductance. The leaf bioassay showed that gs in chestnut was sensitive to ABA but not to Phytophthora elicitins. Stomatal conductance was reduced by some sap extracts, both from control and inoculated plants. Our results suggest the involvement of different signals, chemical and hydraulic, in regulating stomatal conductance of chestnut at different stages of stress.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (46) ◽  
pp. E7222-E7230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Wolf ◽  
William R. L. Anderegg ◽  
Stephen W. Pacala

For over 40 y the dominant theory of stomatal behavior has been that plants should open stomates until the carbon gained by an infinitesimal additional opening balances the additional water lost times a water price that is constant at least over short periods. This theory has persisted because of its remarkable success in explaining strongly supported simple empirical models of stomatal conductance, even though we have also known for over 40 y that the theory is not consistent with competition among plants for water. We develop an alternative theory in which plants maximize carbon gain without pricing water loss and also add two features to both this and the classical theory, which are strongly supported by empirical evidence: (i) water flow through xylem that is progressively impaired as xylem water potential drops and (ii) fitness or carbon costs associated with low water potentials caused by a variety of mechanisms, including xylem damage repair. We show that our alternative carbon-maximization optimization is consistent with plant competition because it yields an evolutionary stable strategy (ESS)—species with the ESS stomatal behavior that will outcompete all others. We further show that, like the classical theory, the alternative theory also explains the functional forms of empirical stomatal models. We derive ways to test between the alternative optimization criteria by introducing a metric—the marginal xylem tension efficiency, which quantifies the amount of photosynthesis a plant will forego from opening stomatal an infinitesimal amount more to avoid a drop in water potential.


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.


1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (7) ◽  
pp. 1404-1414 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Ceulemans ◽  
I. Impens ◽  
R. Imler

Responses of abaxial, adaxial, and total leaf conductance to incident photosynthetic photon flux density, solar irradiance, and changing leaf water potential, as well as diurnal and seasonal patterns of stomatal conductances, were examined under field conditions for six Populus clones. Clones belonged to the species P. trichocarpa and to different interspecific crossings including P. deltoides, P. nigra, and P. maximowiczii. Black Cottonwood clone Columbia River showed stomatal behavior different from other clones in many aspects: (i) it was the only clone with hypostomatous leaves; (ii) its stomata remained open for a longer period of time, both diurnally and seasonally; (iii) the hysteresis effect in stomatal response to solar irradiance during the day was less pronounced; and (iv) its stomata showed hardly any response to declining leaf water potential. Leaf area duration and seasonal stomatal activity showed considerable clonal differences, which are in agreement with girth growth increment patterns. Clone Columbia River showed a much longer leaf life-span with considerable stomatal activity near late autumn, which might explain the substantial late-autumn girth growth increment of this clone.


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