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Journal ArticleDOI

Radial stem flow and its importance when measuring xylem hydraulic conductance

TLDR
In this article, the authors proposed that the background flow is affected by the radial water flow and tissue capacitance, which is fundamental for understanding plant water transport, the coupling between the phloem and xylem, and water relations under drought conditions.
Abstract
Despite the importance of water transport efficiency for plant productivity, the current methods to measure the hydraulic conductance in stem segments are limited and can be tricky. These measurements may be unstable for several hours and there are no satisfactory procedures that allow choosing the moment to get reliable measures. Such instability may be generated by background flow, when there is a flow even without applying water pressure to induce the axial flow. Underlying mechanisms related to background flow are still unknown and based on available literature, we propose that the background flow is affected, or even explained, by the radial water flow and tissue capacitance. For this reason, both phenomena are fundamental for understanding plant water transport, the coupling between the phloem and xylem, and water relations under drought conditions. Besides addressing this issue, we suggest ways to study the radial water flow and capacitance in stem segments.

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Citations
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Meta-analysis Reveals that Hydraulic Traits Explain Cross-Species Patterns of Drought-Induced Tree Mortality across the Globe

TL;DR: A meta-analysis of species’ mortality rates across 475 species finds that species-specific mortality anomalies from community mortality rate in a given drought were associated with plant hydraulic traits, providing broad support for the hypothesis that hydraulic traits capture key mechanisms determining tree death.
Journal ArticleDOI

The stability enigma of hydraulic vulnerability curves: addressing the link between hydraulic conductivity and drought-induced embolism.

TL;DR: Application of the most common set-up for this method to Malus domestica Borkh branches showed that achieving hydraulic steady-state takes considerable time, and that time to reach steady- state increased with declining xylem water potentials.
Journal ArticleDOI

The wood anatomy of Sapindales: diversity and evolution of wood characters

TL;DR: This work characterized the wood anatomy across eight of the nine Sapindales families, and reconstructed them onto the most recent time-calibrated phylogeny for the group, finding that ring-porosity is derived within the order, coinciding with the occupation of more seasonal climates.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

A multi-species synthesis of physiological mechanisms in drought-induced tree mortality

Henry D. Adams, +65 more
TL;DR: It is shown that, across multiple tree species, loss of xylem conductivity above 60% is associated with mortality, while carbon starvation is not universal, indicating that evidence supporting carbon starvation was not universal.
Journal ArticleDOI

Meta-analysis reveals that hydraulic traits explain cross-species patterns of drought-induced tree mortality across the globe

TL;DR: In this article, the authors performed a meta-analysis on species' mortality rates across 475 species from 33 studies around the globe to assess which traits determine a species’ mortality risk and found that species-specific mortality anomalies from community mortality rate in a given drought were associated with plant hydraulic traits.
Journal ArticleDOI

Weak tradeoff between xylem safety and xylem-specific hydraulic efficiency across the world's woody plant species

TL;DR: There appears to be no persuasive explanation for the considerable number of species with both low efficiency and low safety in branch xylem, and these species represent a real challenge for understanding the evolution ofxylem.
Journal ArticleDOI

Differences in drought adaptation between subspecies of sagebrush (artemisia tridentata)

TL;DR: A water transport model indicated that the greater cavitation resistance in ssp.
Journal ArticleDOI

The contribution of stored water to transpiration in Scots pine

TL;DR: In this article, the amount of water available diurnally and annually from the storage tissues was measured in plots of Scots pine trees with four different population densities (608-3281 trees per ha) in a 40-year-old plantation in north eastern Scotland.
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