Vestured Pits: Do They Promote Safer Water Transport?

Jansen, Steven; Baas, Pieter; Gasson, Peter; Smets, Erik

doi:10.1086/374369

Cited by 52 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…The presence of these features in A. pickelii suggests that they assist in long and short transport, respectively. The vestured pits serve an important role in the prevention of cavitation and in improving vessel performance by helping to repair embolisms (Dickison 2000;Jansen et al 2003;Sperry 2003;Costa et al 2006); they are also a useful taxonomic character for many botanical groups (Wheeler et al 1989;Carlquist 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological significance of wood anatomy of Alseis pickelii Pilg. & Schmale (Rubiaceae) in a Tropical Dry Forest

2016

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This work describes, analyzes and compares the wood anatomy of Alseis pickelii from two distinct sites in Tropical Dry Forest. One site is an exploited forest that was disturbed by deforestation whereas the other site is preserved and has not been logged since selective logging in the 1960's. For the evaluation of wood anatomy, plant material was processed following standard techniques for light microscopy and histochemical tests. The results indicated that A. pickelii did not vary qualitatively between the two sites. The histochemical tests indicated the presence of prismatic crystals and starch in radial parenchyma of samples from both sites. Some quantitative parameters differed significantly between the two sites including: vessel frequency; vessel length and lumina area; intervessel pits; diameter, lumina, length and wall thickness of fibres; and radial parenchyma width. In general, these quantitative parameters had higher values in the samples from the exploited site, suggesting an adjustment to the more severe drought conditions there. Quantitative anatomical differences in the samples from the two sites show the influence that environmental conditions can have on wood anatomy. The observed anatomical characteristics may also be useful for taxonomic and ecological studies of this species and genus.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological significance of wood anatomy of Alseis pickelii Pilg. & Schmale (Rubiaceae) in a Tropical Dry Forest

2016

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“…Micromorphological variation in vessel pits may also be the result of ecological adaptations, constrained by phylogeny, because differences in pit characteristics are suggested to be adaptive in optimally balancing trade-offs among conductive efficiency, mechanical strength, and resistance to cavitation (2). However, little attention has been paid to the ecological and functional significance of pit characters (21). As a consequence, there is abundant evidence of ecological trends in vessel perforation plates, but major ecological trends in vestured pits are unclear.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in xylem structure from tropics to tundra: Evidence from vestured pits

Jansen

Baas

Gasson

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Bordered pits play an important role in permitting water flow among adjacent tracheary elements in flowering plants. Variation in the bordered pit structure is suggested to be adaptive in optimally balancing the conflict between hydraulic efficiency (conductivity) and safety from air entry at the pit membrane (air seeding). The possible function of vestured pits, which are bordered pits with protuberances from the secondary cell wall of the pit chamber, could be increased hydraulic resistance or minimized vulnerability to air seeding. These functional hypotheses have to be harmonized with the notion that the vestured or nonvestured nature of pits contains strong phylogenetic signals (i.e., often characterize large species-rich clades with broad ecological ranges). A literature survey of 11,843 species covering 6,428 genera from diverse climates indicates that the incidence of vestured pits considerably decreases from tropics to tundra. The highest frequencies of vestured pits occur in deserts and tropical seasonal woodlands. Moreover, a distinctly developed network of branched vestures is mainly restricted to warm habitats in both mesic and dry (sub)tropical lowlands, whereas vestures in woody plants from cold and boreal arctic environments are usually minute and simple. A similar survey of the frequency of exclusively scalariform perforation plates illustrates that the major ecological trend of this feature is opposite that of vestured pits. These findings provide previously undescribed insights suggesting that vessels with vestured pits and simple perforation plates function as an efficient hydraulic system in plants growing in warm environments with periodical or continuous drought stress.B otanists have long speculated on the mutual relationship between the structure and function of different wood anatomical features and how ecological conditions correlate with xylem features (1-4). The evolution of xylem vessels has been considered a key adaptation marking the pinnacle of hydraulic efficiency in flowering plants, because plants with vessels generally have higher hydraulic conductivities than plants that rely solely on tracheids for water transport (5). The traditional view is that evolutionary trends of vessel elements have been regarded as reliable tools in the study of angiosperm phylogeny, because vessel characters were considered conservative traits containing a wealth of potentially significant systematic information (2, 6, 7). Although parallel development of vessel characters is generally accepted, recent phylogenetic analyses of angiosperms suggest there have also been some reversals in the Baileyan transformation series (8, 9). Therefore, parallel evolution and reversibility in vessel characters imply a strong adaptive significance of xylem hydraulic architecture.The structure of bordered intervessel pits, which are small openings where the secondary cell wall was not deposited over the primary wall (Figs. 1 and 2 A), permits water flow between adjacent vessels, but pits are also a weak link in pro...

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“…The ''GRFT'' clade expanded to include Borthwickiaceae, Gyrostemonaceae, Resedaceae, Pentadiplandraceae, and the stixoids may be provisionally termed the ''stixoid'' clade. The other features cited in the listing in the above paragraph do occur in some other Brassicales, but uncommonly so (e.g., libriform fibers or, less commonly, fibertracheids, characterize most Brassicales); vestured pits have been reported in a minority of the genera of the order (Jansen et al 2000). The GRFT clade formed a polytomy, not resolved, due to lack of material of some genera, in the Hall et al (2004) molecular-based cladogram.…”

Section: Systematic Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some vestures may even be seen on pit apertures of tracheids in some Forchhammeria species. Vestures, like helical thickenings, serve to deter formation of air embolisms, or to reverse them, in conductive cells of angiosperm woods (Jansen et al 2000;Kohonen and Helland 2009). …”

Section: Ecological Interpretationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forchhammeria and Stixis (Brassicales): Stem and Wood Anatomical Diversity, Ecological and Phylogenetic Significance

Carlquist¹,

Hansen²,

Iltis³

et al. 2013

aliso

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Qualitative and quantitative data are given for wood anatomy of six of the 11 recognized species of Forchhammeria (Mexico, Central America, West Indies), a genus formerly placed in Capparaceae. Though still in Brassicales, the genus has been excluded, along with several other genera, from the major recognized families of that order on the basis of molecular data. Liquid-preserved material of several species permitted detailed histological accounts of the successive cambia and their development in the stems of Forchhammeria. Successive cambia have a curious distribution in Brassicales that may represent homoplasies. Most wood features of the genus do not appear highly xeromorphic, but presence of tracheids as a wood background tissue and abundance of starch and perhaps water storage in ray parenchyma and conjunctive tissue can be cited as mechanisms likely to resist embolism formation. Forchhammeria retains green leaves throughout the dry season. Forchhammeria tamaulipana, known only from Tamaulipas State, Mexico, the single species of a new subgenus, Pauciflora, is newly described. Its embryos have nearly equal cotyledons and germinate epigeously, whereas all remaining species of the genus are pseudomonocotylous and hypogeous. These and other distinctive features of F. tamaulipana may prove significant in providing links to other brassicalean genera. The family name Stixaceae Doweld is now appropriate for Forchhammeria, Neothorelia, Stixis, and Tirania.

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Vestured Pits: Do They Promote Safer Water Transport?

Cited by 52 publications

References 60 publications

Ecological significance of wood anatomy of Alseis pickelii Pilg. & Schmale (Rubiaceae) in a Tropical Dry Forest

Ecological significance of wood anatomy of Alseis pickelii Pilg. & Schmale (Rubiaceae) in a Tropical Dry Forest

Variation in xylem structure from tropics to tundra: Evidence from vestured pits

Forchhammeria and Stixis (Brassicales): Stem and Wood Anatomical Diversity, Ecological and Phylogenetic Significance

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