Quantifying how plants with different species-specific water-use strategies cope with the same drought-prone hydro-ecological conditions

Author(s):  
Deepanshu Khare ◽  
Gernot Bodner ◽  
Mathieu Javaux ◽  
Jan Vanderborght ◽  
Daniel Leitner ◽  
...  

<p>Plant transpiration and root water uptake are dependent on multiple traits that interact with site soil characteristics and environmental factors such as radiation, atmospheric temperature, relative humidity, and soil-moisture content. Models of root architecture and functions are increasingly employed to simulate root-soil interactions. Root water uptake is thereby affected by the root hydraulic architecture, soil moisture conditions, soil hydraulic properties, and the transpiration demand as controlled by atmospheric conditions. Stomatal conductance plays a vital role in regulating transpiration in plants. We performed simulations of plant water uptake for plants having different mechanisms to control transpiration, spanned by isohydric/anisohydric spectrum. Isohydric plants follow the strategy to close their stomata in order to maintain the leaf water potential at a constant level, while anisohydric plants leave their stomata open when leaf water potentials fall due to drought stress. Modelling the stomatal regulation effectively will result in a more reliable model that will regulate the excessive loss of water. We implemented hydraulic and chemical stomatal control<br>of root water uptake following the current approach where stomatal control is regulated by simulated water potential and/or chemical signal concentration. In order to maintain water uptake from dry soil, low plant water potentials are required, which may lead to reversible or permanent cavitation. We parameterise our model with field data, including climate data and soil hydraulic properties under different tillage conditions. This helps us to understand the behaviour of different crops under drought conditions and predict at which growing stage the stress hits the plant. We conducted the simulations for different scenarios to study the effect of hydraulic and chemical regulation on root system performance under drought stress.</p>

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-432
Author(s):  
Matthew Lanning ◽  
Lixin Wang ◽  
Kimberly A Novick

Abstract Accurate understanding of plant responses to water stress is increasingly important for quantification of ecosystem carbon and water cycling under future climates. Plant water-use strategies can be characterized across a spectrum of water stress responses, from tight stomatal control (isohydric) to distinctly less stomatal control (anisohydric). A recent and popular classification method of plant water-use strategies utilizes the regression slope of predawn and midday leaf water potentials, σ, to reflect the coupling of soil water availability (predawn leaf water potential) and stomatal dynamics (daily decline in leaf water potential). This type of classification is important in predicting ecosystem drought response and resiliency. However, it fails to explain the relative stomatal responses to drought of Acer sacharrum and Quercus alba, improperly ranking them on the spectrum of isohydricity. We argue this inconsistency may be in part due to the cuticular conductance of different species. We used empirical and modeling evidence to show that plants with more permeable cuticles are more often classified as anisohydric; the σ values of those species were very well correlated with measured cuticular permeance. Furthermore, we found that midday leaf water potential in species with more permeable cuticles would continue to decrease as soils become drier, but not in those with less permeable cuticles. We devised a diagnostic parameter, Γ, to identify circumstances where the impact of cuticular conductance could cause species misclassification. The results suggest that cuticular conductance needs to be considered to better understand plant water-use strategies and to accurately predict forest responses to water stress under future climate scenarios.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Mehmandoost Kotlar ◽  
Mathieu Javaux

<p>Root water uptake is a major process controlling water balance and accounts for about 60% of global terrestrial evapotranspiration. The root system employs different strategies to better exploit available soil water, however, the regulation of water uptake under the spatiotemporal heterogeneous and uneven distribution of soil water is still a major question. To tackle this question, we need to understand how plants cope with this heterogeneity by adjustment of above ground responses to partial rhizosphere drying. Therefore, we use R-SWMS simulating soil water flow, flow towards the roots, and radial and the axial flow inside the root system to perform numerical experiments on a 9-cell gridded rhizotrone (50 cm×50 cm). The water potentials in each cell can be varied and fixed for the period of simulation and no water flow is allowed between cells while roots can pass over the boundaries. Then a static mature maize root architecture to different extents invaded in all cells is subjected to the various arrangements of cells' soil water potentials. R-SWMS allows determining possible hydraulic lift in drier areas. With these simulations, the variation of root water and leaf water potential will be determined and the role of root length density in each cell and corresponding average soil-root water potential will be statistically discussed.</p>


OENO One ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Pierre Gaudillère ◽  
Cornelis Van Leeuwen ◽  
Olivier Trégoat

<p style="text-align: justify;">Carbon isotope discrimination in primary products of photosynthesis varies with plant water uptake conditions. This property was used to show that the <sup>13</sup>C/<sup>12</sup>C ratio (called ΔC13) in grape sugars and tartrate measured at ripeness can be a valuable indicator of vine water deficit. Correlation between ΔC13 in grape sugar and minimum pre-dawn leaf water potential is excellent (R<sup>2</sup> = 0,81; n = 36). A statistically significant effect of soil and vintage is pointed out. When measured on a great number of plots of an estate, ΔC13 varies with the soil type. This proves ΔC13 can be a valuable tool in « terroir » studies. ΔC13 measured on phenolic compounds in wine is also significantly correlated to minimum pre-dawn leaf water potential as well as to ΔC13 in grape sugar. ΔC13 is actually the only tool capable to assess global vine water uptake conditions between veraison and harvest at a low cost, without the installation of heavy equipment in the vineyard.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Seeger ◽  
Michael Rinderer ◽  
Markus Weiler

&lt;p&gt;In the face of global climate change, a well-informed knowledge of plant physiologic key parameters is essential to predict the behavior of ecosystems in a changing environment. Many of these parameters may be determined with lab or pot experiments, but it could prove problematic to transfer results obtained in a such experiments with small trees to fully grown trees. Therefore, new approaches to determine relevant parameters for mature trees are still required. Regarding plant water uptake, parameters related to fine root distribution (maximum depth, depth distribution and rhizosphere radius) and parameters describing the physiological limits of root water uptake are important, but usually hard or costly to assess for fully grown trees.&amp;#160; In-situ isotope probes (Volkmann et al. 2016a&amp;#160; &amp; 2016b) are a promising recent development that offer new possibilities for the investigation of plant water uptake and associated physiological parameters.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this study we used in-situ stable water isotope probes in soil (six depths from 10 to 100 cm) and in tree xylem of mature (140 years) European beech trees (three heights between 0 and 8 m). With those probes, we monitored soil and xylem isotope signatures after an isotopically labeled (Deutrium-Excess = 100 &amp;#8240;) irrigation pulse equivalent to 150 mm of precipitation and foursubsequent natural precipitation events over a period of twelve weeks with a high temporal resolution (six or more measurements per probe per day). Those measurements were complemented with measurements of soil moisture and sap flow dynamics. We interpolated our measured soil isotope and soil moisture data in order to obtain spatially and temporally continuous data for those soil parameters. Then we used this data as an input to the Feddes-Jarvis plant water uptake model, in order to predict the isotopic signature of plant water uptake at daily time steps. With the help of our observed isotopic signatures, we were able to directly constrain the critical water potential parameter of the Feddes model as well as the underlying fine root distribution. Furthermore, the observed dampening of the breakthrough curve of our Deuterium-labeling pulse allowed us to infer information on the rhizosphere&amp;#160; radius and water transport velocities in the fine roots and stem between the points of root water uptake and the eight meter stem height.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With our field experiment we showed that in-situ isotope measurements in soil profiles and in tree xylem sap can help to constrain plant water uptake modelling parameters. Future experiments might use this approach to scrutinize lab-scale derived hypothesizes regarding tree water uptake and to investigate the temporal and spatial dynamics of root water uptake in the field.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Volkmann, T. H., Haberer, K., Gessler, A., &amp; Weiler, M. (2016a). High&amp;#8208;resolution isotope measurements resolve rapid ecohydrological dynamics at the soil&amp;#8211;plant interface. New Phytologist, 210(3), 839-849.&amp;#160;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Volkmann, T. H., K&amp;#252;hnhammer, K., Herbstritt, B., Gessler, A., &amp; Weiler, M. (2016b). A method for in situ monitoring of the isotope composition of tree xylem water using laser spectroscopy. Plant, cell &amp; environment, 39(9), 2055-2063.&amp;#160;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jarvis, N. J. (1989). A simple empirical model of root water uptake. Journal of Hydrology, 107(1-4), 57-72.&amp;#160;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Landl ◽  
Maxime Phalempin ◽  
Steffen Schlüter ◽  
Doris Vetterlein ◽  
Jan Vanderborght ◽  
...  

In models of water flow in soil and roots, differences in the soil hydraulic properties of the rhizosphere and the bulk soil are usually neglected. There is, however, strong experimental evidence that rhizosphere and bulk soil hydraulic properties differ significantly from each other due to various root-soil interaction processes. Two such processes, which can also influence each other, are rhizosphere loosening or compaction and mucilage deposition. In this work, we identified realistic gradients in rhizosphere bulk density and mucilage concentration using X-ray CT imaging, respectively, model simulation for two different soil types and soil bulk densities and related them to soil hydraulic parameters. Using a 1D-single-root model, we then evaluated both the individual and combined effects of these gradients on soil water dynamics using scenario simulations. We showed that during soil drying, a lower rhizosphere bulk density leads to an earlier onset of water stress and to a reduced root water uptake that is sustained longer. The presence of mucilage led to a faster reduction of root water uptake. This is due to the stronger effect of mucilage viscosity on hydraulic conductivity compared to the mucilage- induced increase in water retention. Root water uptake was rapidly reduced when both mucilage and rhizosphere bulk density gradients were considered. The intensity of the effect of gradients in rhizosphere bulk density and mucilage concentration depended strongly on the interplay between initial soil hydraulic conditions, soil type and soil bulk densities. Both gradients in rhizosphere bulk density and mucilage concentration appear as a measure to sustain transpiration at a lower level and to avoid fast dehydration.


1980 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Kumar ◽  
Larry L. Tieszen

SUMMARYExperiments were carried out to relate soil moisture to leaf water potential (Ψ1), and to determine the effects of varying Ψ1, on leaf conductances and photosynthesis in coffee. Stomatal conductance was maximum at 0900 h, but plants growing in drier soil showed marked mid-day stomatal closure. After 1500 h, stomata began closing although plant water status improved. Photosynthesis in relation to changing Ψ1 appeared to exhibit roughly three different rates. At the fixed experimental temperature (25°C) low Ψ1 reduced photosynthesis throughits influence on stomata, but under field conditions low Ψ1 and an accompanying rise in temperature could lower the rate by lowering both mesophyll and stomatal conductances.


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