Wood Anatomy Constrains Stomatal Responses to Atmospheric Vapor Pressure Deficit in Irrigated, Urban Trees

Plant transpiration is strongly constrained by hydraulic architecture, which determines the critical threshold for cavitation. Because species vary greatly in vulnerability to cavitation, hydraulic limits to transpiration and stomatal conductance have not generally been incorporated into ecological...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oecologia 2008-05, Vol.156 (1), p.13-20
Main Authors: Bush, Susan E., Pataki, Diane E., Hultine, Kevin R., West, Adam G., Sperry, John S., Ehleringer, James R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Atmospheric Pressure
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Cavitation
Cavitation flow
Cities
Climate models
Ecology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Growing seasons
Hardwood trees
Humidity
Hydraulics
Hydrology/Water Resources
Life Sciences
Magnoliopsida - physiology
Physiological Ecology - Original Paper
Plant Sciences
Plant species
Plant Stomata - physiology
Plant Transpiration
Semiarid environments
Soil water
Species
Stomatal conductance
Taxa
Transpiration
Trees
Urban environments
Utah
Vapor pressure
Wood
Xylem
Xylem - physiology
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Summary:Plant transpiration is strongly constrained by hydraulic architecture, which determines the critical threshold for cavitation. Because species vary greatly in vulnerability to cavitation, hydraulic limits to transpiration and stomatal conductance have not generally been incorporated into ecological and climate models. We measured sap flow, leaf transpiration, and vulnerability to cavitation of a variety of tree species in a well-irrigated but semi-arid urban environment in order to evaluate the generality of stomatal responses to high atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (D). We found evidence of broad patterns of stomatal responses to humidity based on systematic differences in vulnerability to cavitation. Ring-porous taxa consistently had vulnerable xylem and showed strong regulation of transpiration in response to D, while diffuseporous taxa were less vulnerable and transpiration increased nearly linearly with D. These results correspond well to patterns in the distribution of the taxa, such as the prevalence of diffuse-porous species in riparian ecosystems, and also provide a means of representing Maximum Transpiration Rates at Varying D in Broad Categories of Trees.
ISSN:0029-8549
1432-1939
DOI:10.1007/s00442-008-0966-5