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Hydraulic Capacity (hydraulic + capacity)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Interspecific relationships among growth, mortality and xylem traits of woody species from New Zealand

FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Sabrina E. Russo
Summary 1.,Wood density is considered a key functional trait influencing the growth and survival of woody plants and has been shown to be related to a slow,fast rate-of-living continuum. Wood density is, however, an emergent trait arising from several vascular properties of wood, including the diameter and frequency of xylem conduits. 2.,We aimed to test the hypotheses that there is a set of inter-related trade-offs linked to the different functions of wood, that these trade-offs have direct consequences for tree growth and survival and that these trade-offs underlie the observed correlations between wood density and demographic rates. We evaluated the covariation between xylem anatomical traits among woody species of New Zealand and whether that covariation had the potential to constrain variation in wood density and demographic rates. 3.,Several xylem traits were strongly correlated with each other, but wood density was not correlated with any of them. We also found no significant relationships between wood density and growth or mortality rate. Instead, growth was strongly related to xylem traits associated with hydraulic capacity (conduit diameter and a conductivity index) and to maximum height, whereas mortality rate was strongly correlated only with maximum height. The diameter and frequency of conduits exhibited a significant negative relationship, suggesting a trade-off, which restricted variation in wood density and growth rate, but not mortality rate. 4.,Our results suggest, for woody species in New Zealand, that growth rate is more closely linked to xylem traits determining hydraulic conductance, rather than wood density. We also found no evidence that denser woods conferred higher survival, or that risk of cavitation caused by wide conduits increased mortality. 5.,In summary, we found little support for the idea that wood density is a good proxy for position along a fast,slow rate-of-living continuum. Instead, the strong, negative relationship between vessel diameter and frequency may constrain the realized diversity of demographic niches of tree species in New Zealand. Trade-offs in function therefore have the potential to shape functional diversity and ecology of forest communities by linking selection on structure and function to population-level dynamics. [source]

Does soil nitrogen influence growth, water transport and survival of snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieber ex Sprengel.) under CO2 enrichment?

PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 5 2009
BRIAN J. ATWELL
ABSTRACT Eucalyptus pauciflora Sieber ex Sprengel. (snow gum) was grown under ambient (370 µL L,1) and elevated (700 µL L,1) atmospheric [CO2] in open-top chambers (OTCs) in the field and temperature-controlled glasshouses. Nitrogen applications to the soil ranged from 0.1 to 2.75 g N per plant. Trees in the field at high N levels grew rapidly during summer, particularly in CO2 -enriched atmosphere, but suffered high mortality during summer heatwaves. Generally, wider and more numerous secondary xylem vessels at the root,shoot junction in CO2 -enriched trees conferred fourfold higher below-ground hydraulic conductance. Enhanced hydraulic capacity was typical of plants at elevated [CO2] (in which root and shoot growth was accelerated), but did not result from high N supply. However, because high rates of N application consistently made trees prone to dehydration during heatwaves, glasshouse studies were required to identify the effect of N nutrition on root development and hydraulics. While the effects of elevated [CO2] were again predominantly on hydraulic conductivity, N nutrition acted specifically by constraining deep root penetration into soil. Specifically, 15,40% shallower root systems supported marginally larger shoot canopies. Independent changes to hydraulics and root penetration have implications for survival of fertilized trees under elevated atmospheric [CO2], particularly during water stress. [source]

Ecological physiology of Pereskia guamacho, a cactus with leaves

PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 2 2006
ERIKA J. EDWARDS
ABSTRACT The specialized physiology of leafless, stem-succulent cacti is relatively well understood. This is not true, however, for Pereskia (Cactaceae), the 17 species of leafy trees and shrubs that represent the earliest diverging lineages of the cacti. Here we report on the water relations and photosynthesis of Pereskia guamacho, a small tree of the semiarid scrubland of Venezuela's Caribbean coast. Sapwood-specific xylem conductivity (Ksp) is low when compared to other vessel-bearing trees of tropical dry systems, but leaf-specific xylem conductivity is relatively high due to the high Huber value afforded by P. guamacho's short shoot architecture. P. guamacho xylem is not particularly vulnerable to drought-induced cavitation, especially considering the high leaf water potentials maintained year round. This is confirmed by the lack of significant variation exhibited in Ksp between wet and dry seasons. In the rainy season, P. guamacho exhibited C3 -like patterns of stomatal conductance, but during a prolonged drought we documented nocturnal stomatal opening with a concomitant accumulation of titratable acid in leaves. This suggests that P. guamacho can perform drought-induced crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM photosynthesis), although ,13C values imply that most carbon is assimilated via the C3 pathway. P. guamacho leaves display very low stomatal densities, and maximum stomatal conductance is low whether stomata open during the day or night. We conclude that leaf performance is not limited by stem hydraulic capacity in this species, and that water use is conservative and tightly regulated at the leaf level. [source]

Relationship between plant hydraulic and biochemical properties derived from a steady-state coupled water and carbon transport model

PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 3 2003
G. KATUL
ABSTRACT There is growing evidence that plant stomata have evolved physiological controls to satisfy the demand for CO2 by photosynthesis while regulating water losses by leaves in a manner that does not cause cavitation in the soil,root,xylem hydraulic system. Whether the hydraulic and biochemical properties of plants evolve independently or whether they are linked at a time scale relevant to plant stand development remains uncertain. To address this question, a steady-state analytical model was developed in which supply of CO2 via the stomata and biochemical demand for CO2 are constrained by the balance between loss of water vapour from the leaf to the atmosphere and supply of water from the soil to the leaf. The model predicts the intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) for which the maximum demand for CO2 is in equilibrium with the maximum hydraulically permissible supply of water through the soil,root,xylem system. The model was then tested at two forest stands in which simultaneous hydraulic, ecophysiological, and long-term carbon isotope discrimination measurements were available. The model formulation reproduces analytically recent findings on the sensitivity of bulk stomatal conductance (gs) to vapour pressure deficit (D); namely, gs = gref(1 , m × lnD), where m is a sensitivity parameter and gref is a reference conductance defined at D = 1 kPa. An immediate outcome of the model is an explicit relationship between maximum carboxylation capacity (Vcmax) and soil,plant hydraulic properties. It is shown that this relationship is consistent with measurements reported for conifer and rain forest angiosperm species. The analytical model predicts a decline in Vcmax as the hydraulic capacity of the soil,root,xylem decreases with stand development or age. [source]