scholarly journals When does vapor pressure deficit drive or reduce evapotranspiration?

Author(s):  
Adam Massmann ◽  
Pierre Gentine ◽  
Changjie Lin

Abstract. Increasing vapor pressure deficit (VPD) increases atmospheric demand for water, and vapor pressure deficit is expected to rise with increasing greenhouse gases. While increased evapotranspiration (ET) in response to increased atmospheric demand seems intuitive, plants are capable of reducing ET in response to increased VPD by closing their stomata, in an effort to conserve water. Here we examine which effect dominates response to increasing VPD: atmospheric demand and increases in ET, or plant physiological response (stomata closure) and decreases in ET. We use Penman-Monteith, combined with semi-empirical optimal stomatal regulation theory and underlying water use efficiency, to develop a theoretical framework for understanding how ET responds to increases in VPD. The theory suggests that for most environmental conditions and plant types, plant physiological response dominates and ET decreases with increasing VPD. Plants that are evolved or bred to prioritize primary production over water conservation (e.g. crops) exhibit a higher likelihood of atmospheric demand-driven response (ET increasing). However for forest, grass, savannah, and shrub plant types, ET more frequently decreases than increases with rising VPD. This work serves as an example of the utility of our simplified framework for disentangling land-atmosphere feedbacks, including the characterization of ET response in an atmospherically drier, enriched CO2 world.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Boese ◽  
Martin Jung ◽  
Nuno Carvalhais ◽  
Markus Reichstein

Abstract. Water-use efficiency (WUE) is a fundamental property for the coupling of carbon and water cycles in plants and ecosystems. Existing model formulations predicting this variable differ in the type of response of WUE to the atmospheric vapor pressure deficit of water (VPD). We tested a representative WUE model on ecosystem scale at 110 eddy-covariance sites of the FLUXNET initiative by predicting evapotranspiration (ET) based on gross primary productivity (GPP) and VPD. We found that introducing an intercept term in the formulation increases model performance considerably, indicating that an additional factor needs to be considered. We demonstrate that this intercept term varies seasonally and we subsequently associate it with radiation. Replacing the constant intercept term with a linear function of global radiation was found to further improve model predictions of ET. Our new semi-empirical ecosystem WUE formulation indicates that, averaged over all sites, this radiation term accounts for up to half (40–49 %) of transpiration. These empirical findings challenge the current understanding of water-use efficiency on ecosystem-scale.


2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (14) ◽  
pp. 5005-5013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sha Zhou ◽  
Bofu Yu ◽  
Yuefei Huang ◽  
Guangqian Wang

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 666-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhuanito S. Ferrarezi ◽  
Alan L. Wright ◽  
Brian J. Boman ◽  
Arnold W. Schumann ◽  
Fred G. Gmitter ◽  
...  

Completely enclosed screen houses can physically exclude contact between the asian citrus psyllid [ACP (Diaphorina citri)] and young, healthy citrus (Citrus sp.) trees and prevent huanglongbing (HLB) disease development. The current study investigated the use of antipsyllid screen houses on plant growth and physiological parameters of young ‘Ray Ruby’ grapefruit (Citrus ×paradisi) trees. We tested two coverings [enclosed screen house and open-air (control)] and two planting systems (in-ground and container-grown), with four replications arranged in a split-plot experimental design. Trees grown inside screen houses developed larger canopy surface area, canopy surface area water use efficiency (CWUE), leaf area index (LAI) and LAI water use efficiency (LAIWUE) relative to trees grown in open-air plots (P < 0.01). Leaf water transpiration increased and leaf vapor pressure deficit (VPD) decreased in trees grown inside screen houses compared with trees grown in the open-air plots. CWUE was negatively related to leaf VPD (P < 0.01). Monthly leaf nitrogen concentration was consistently greater in container-grown trees in the open-air compared with trees grown in-ground and inside the screen houses. However, trees grown in-ground and inside the screen houses did not experience any severe leaf N deficiencies and were the largest trees, presenting the highest canopy surface area and LAI at the end of the study. The screen houses described here provided a better growing environment for in-ground grapefruit because the protective structures accelerated young tree growth compared with open-air plantings while protecting trees from HLB infection.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weichang Gong ◽  
Yaqing Chen ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Han Yuan

Abstract Background Inter-specific hybridizations were common and can easily take place in Buddleja , and it was an important way for evolution and rapid speciation. The F1 hybrid in this study was a newly identified inter-specific hybridization between B. crispa and B. offic inalis in Sino-Himalayan region. In the natural hybrid zones, F1 hybrids always occupy different habitats from their parents. The objective of this study was to explore environmental acclimatization of F1 hybrids and their parents at physiological and biochemical levels.Results The results showed that F1 hybrids performed as an intermediate in adaptation to their parents, with divergent gas-exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence features. F1 hybrids showed the parallel light compensation point and light saturation point with their parents, but low utilization efficiency to low-light density. They synthesized the greatest total chlorophyll content (10.41 ± 0.56 mg•g -1 ) in leaves than their parents. During the diurnal variation of photosynthesis, F1 hybrids markedly decreased and preserved the stomatal conductance and leaf transpiration rate at a low level. However, they kept high carbon assimilation rate and water-use efficiency with markedly increased vapor pressure deficit. In F1 hybrids, the maximum net photosynthetic rate, maximum water-use efficiency and maximum vapor pressure deficit were 10.48 ± 0.50 mmol CO 2 •mmol -1 photo, 21.52 ± 2.20 µmol•mmol -1 and 4.18 ± 0.55 kPa, respectively. In addition, all Buddleja species performed well and grow healthy with high level of the maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII and low non-photochemical quenching, 0.83 ± 0.004 - 0.85 ± 0.004, and 1.22 ± 0.15 - 1.97 ± 0.08, respectively. In F1 hybrids, they showed great photochemical activity compared to their parental species with high photochemical quenching. Furthermore, the effective quantum yield and electron transport rate presented a similar behavior.Conclusions The results indicated that F1 hybrids have great photochemical activities and growth acclimatization compared to their parents. Associated with the growth performance of F1 hybrids in the homogenous garden, our results suggested that the divergent gas-exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence patterns may facilitate F1 hybrids to respond to different habitats, and to improve growth performance.


HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 501c-501
Author(s):  
Andrés A. Estrada-Luna ◽  
Jonathan N. Egilla ◽  
Fred T. Davies

The effect of mycorrhizal fungi on gas exchange of micropropagated guava plantlets (Psidium guajava L.) during acclimatization and plant establishment was determined. Guava plantlets (Psidium guajava L. cv. `Media China') were asexually propagated through tissue culture and acclimatized in a glasshouse for eighteen weeks. Half of the plantlets were inoculated with ZAC-19, which is a mixed isolate containing Glomus etunicatum and an unknown Glomus spp. Plantlets were fertilized with modified Long Ashton nutrient solution containing 11 (g P/ml. Gas exchange measurements included photosynthetic rate (A), stomatal conductance (gs), internal CO2 concentration (Ci), transpiration rate (E), water use efficiency (WUE), and vapor pressure deficit (VPD). Measurements were taken at 2, 4, 8 and 18 weeks after inoculation using a LI-6200 portable photosynthesis system (LI-COR Inc. Lincoln, Neb., USA). Two weeks after inoculation, noninoculated plantlets had greater A compared to mycorrhizal plantlets. However, 4 and 8 weeks after inoculation, mycorrhizal plantlets had greater A, gs, Ci and WUE. At the end of the experiment gas exchange was comparable between noninoculated and mycorrhizal plantlets.


2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Balota ◽  
Steve McGrath ◽  
Thomas G. Isleib ◽  
Shyam Tallury

Abstract Water deficit, i.e., rainfall amounts and distribution, is the most common abiotic stress that limits peanut production worldwide. Even though extensive research efforts have been made to improve drought tolerance in peanut, performance of genotypes largely depends upon the environment in which they grow. Based on greenhouse experiments, it has been hypothesized that stomata closure under high vapor pressure deficit (VPD) is a mechanism of soil water conservation and it has been shown that genotypic variation for the response of transpiration rate to VPD in peanut exists. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between stomatal conductance (gs) and VPD for field grown peanut in Virginia-Carolina (VC) rainfed environments. In 2009, thirty virginia-type peanut cultivars and advanced breeding lines were evaluated for gs at several times before and after rain events, including a moisture stress episode. In 2010, eighteen genotypes were evaluated for gs under soil water deficit. In 2009, VPD ranged from 1.3 to 4.2 kPa and in 2010 from 1.78 to 3.57 kPa. Under water deficit, genotype and year showed a significant effect on gs (P  =  0.0001), but the genotype × year interaction did not. During the water deficit episodes while recorded gs values were relatively high, gs was negatively related to VPD (R2  =  0.57, n  =  180 in 2009; R2  =  0.47, n  =  108 in 2010), suggesting that stomata closure is indeed a water conservation mechanism for field grown peanut. However, a wide range of slopes among genotype were observed in both years. Genotypes with significant negative relationships of gs and VPD under water deficit in both years were Florida Fancy, Gregory, N04074FCT, NC-V11, and VA-98R. While Florida Fancy, Gregory, and NC-V11 are known to be high yielding cultivars, VA-98R and line N04074FCT are not. The benefit of stomatal closure during drought episodes in the VC environments is further discussed in this paper.


2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Filgueiras Soares ◽  
Walter Quadros Ribeiro Júnior ◽  
Lucas Felisberto Pereira ◽  
Cristiane Andréa de Lima ◽  
Daiane dos Santos Soares ◽  
...  

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