Dynamics of leaf hydraulic conductance with water status: quantification and analysis of species differences under steady state.

ABSTRACT: Leaf hydraulic conductance (K(leaf)) is a major determinant of photosynthetic rate in well-watered and drought-stressed plants. Previous work assessed the decline of K(leaf) with decreasing leaf water potential (Ψ(leaf)), most typically using rehydration kinetics methods, and found that species varied in the shape of their vulnerability curve, and that hydraulic vulnerability correlated with other leaf functional traits and with drought sensitivity. These findings were tested and extended, using a new steady-state evaporative flux method under high irradiance, and the function for the vulnerability curve of each species was determined individually using maximum likelihood for 10 species varying strongly in drought tolerance. Additionally, the ability of excised leaves to recover in K(leaf)

SUBMITTER: Scoffoni C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3254676 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature