Plant xylem hydraulics: What we understand, current research, and future challenges

Venturas, Martin D.; Sperry, John S.; Hacke, Uwe G.

doi:10.1111/jipb.12534

Cited by 330 publications

(260 citation statements)

References 282 publications

(396 reference statements)

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“…Our most anisohydric species ( Q. alba and Q. velutina ) are ring‐porous. The large earlywood vessels of these species are known to be more susceptible to hydraulic damage, potentially causing embolism at low water potentials and generating the ‘r‐shaped’ vulnerability curves and low P 50 in these species (Venturas et al ., ). While anisohydric behavior has previously been linked with high embolism resistance (Martínez‐Vilalta et al ., ), the lack of trait coordination in our experiment serves as further evidence that the relationship between embolism resistance and anisohydricity is not universal (Johnson et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Anisohydric behavior linked to persistent hydraulic damage and delayed drought recovery across seven North American tree species

2019

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Summary The isohydry‐anisohydry spectrum has become a popular way to characterize plant drought responses and recovery processes. Despite the proven utility of this framework for understanding the interconnected physiological changes plants undergo in response to water stress, new challenges have arisen pertaining to the traits and tradeoffs that underlie this concept. To test the utility of this framework for understanding hydraulic traits, drought physiology and recovery, we applied a 6 wk experimental soil moisture reduction to seven tree species followed by a 6 wk recovery period. Throughout, we measured hydraulic traits and monitored changes in gas exchange, leaf water potential, and hydraulic conductivity. Species’ hydraulic traits were not coordinated, as some anisohydric species had surprisingly low resistance to embolism (P50) and negative safety margins. In addition to widespread hydraulic damage, these species also experienced reductions in photosynthesis and stem water potential during water stress, and delayed recovery time. Given that we observed no benefit of being anisohydric either during or after drought, our results indicate the need to reconsider the traits and tradeoffs that underlie anisohydric behavior, and to consider the environmental, biological and edaphic processes that could allow this strategy to flourish in forests.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Anisohydric behavior linked to persistent hydraulic damage and delayed drought recovery across seven North American tree species

2019

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“…, Venturas et al. ). Pit pores limit the spread of air much more strongly than they limit the spread of water between adjacent vessels and are therefore thought to be especially important for controlling cavitation resistance (Wheeler et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The hydraulic efficiency–safety trade‐off differs between lianas and trees

Sande

Poorter

Schnitzer

et al. 2019

Ecology

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Hydraulic traits are important for woody plant functioning and distribution. Associations among hydraulic traits, other leaf and stem traits, and species’ performance are relatively well understood for trees, but remain poorly studied for lianas. We evaluated the coordination among hydraulic efficiency (i.e., maximum hydraulic conductivity), hydraulic safety (i.e., cavitation resistance), a suite of eight morphological and physiological traits, and species’ abundances for saplings of 24 liana species and 27 tree species in wet tropical forests in Panama. Trees showed a strong trade‐off between hydraulic efficiency and hydraulic safety, whereas efficiency and safety were decoupled in lianas. Hydraulic efficiency was strongly and similarly correlated with acquisitive traits for lianas and trees (e.g., positively with gas exchange rates and negatively with wood density). Hydraulic safety, however, showed no correlations with other traits in lianas, but with several in trees (e.g., positively with leaf dry matter content and wood density and negatively with gas exchange rates), indicating that in lianas hydraulic efficiency is an anchor trait because it is correlated with many other traits, while in trees both efficiency and safety are anchor traits. Traits related to shade tolerance (e.g., low specific leaf area and high wood density) were associated with high local tree sapling abundance, but not with liana abundance. Our results suggest that different, yet unknown mechanisms determine hydraulic safety and local‐scale abundance for lianas compared to trees. For trees, the trade‐off between efficiency and safety will provide less possibilities for ecological strategies. For lianas, however, the uncoupling of efficiency and safety could allow them to have high hydraulic efficiency, and hence high growth rates, without compromising resistance to cavitation under drought, thus allowing them to thrive and outperform trees under drier conditions.

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“…The hydraulic safety–efficiency trade‐off—namely, plants whose vascular systems are more resistant to cavitation but inefficient at water transport—is a widely recognized phenomenon (Hacke, Sperry, Wheeler, & Castro, ; Manzoni et al, ; Markesteijn et al, ; McElrone, Pockman, Martínez‐Vilalta, & Jackson, ). It is found that, in general, species with lower xylem conductance have safer xylem (Venturas et al, ). Both hydraulic traits (pit and xylem network properties), and nonhydraulic traits (e.g., wood density) can contribute to the hydraulic safety–efficiency trade‐off (Gleason et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of leaf morphology in relation to leaf water status: A theory

Ding

Johnson

Martin

2020

Ecology and Evolution

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The leaf economic traits such as leaf area, maximum carbon assimilation rate, and venation are all correlated and related to water availability. Furthermore, leaves are often broad and large in humid areas and narrower in arid/semiarid and hot and cold areas. We use optimization theory to explain these patterns. We have created a constrained optimization leaf model linking leaf shape to vein structure that is integrated into coupled transpiration and carbon assimilation processes. The model maximizes net leaf carbon gain (NPPleaf) over the loss of xylem water potential. Modeled relations between leaf traits are consistent with empirically observed patterns. As the results of the leaf shape–venation relation, our model further predicts that a broadleaf has overall higher NPPleaf compared to a narrowleaf. In addition, a broadleaf has a lower stomatal resistance compared to a narrowleaf under the same level of constraint. With the same leaf area, a broadleaf will have, on average, larger conduits and lower total leaf xylem resistance and thus be more efficient in water transportation but less resistant to cavitation. By linking venation structure to leaf shape and using water potential as the constraint, our model provides a physical explanation for the general pattern of the covariance of leaf traits through the safety–efficiency trade‐off of leaf hydraulic design.

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Plant xylem hydraulics: What we understand, current research, and future challenges

Cited by 330 publications

References 282 publications

Anisohydric behavior linked to persistent hydraulic damage and delayed drought recovery across seven North American tree species

Anisohydric behavior linked to persistent hydraulic damage and delayed drought recovery across seven North American tree species

The hydraulic efficiency–safety trade‐off differs between lianas and trees

Optimization of leaf morphology in relation to leaf water status: A theory

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