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. 2016 May 25;11(5):e0155246.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155246. eCollection 2016.

An Integrated View of Whole-Tree Hydraulic Architecture. Does Stomatal or Hydraulic Conductance Determine Whole Tree Transpiration?

Juan Rodríguez-Gamir  1 , Eduardo Primo-Millo  1 , María Ángeles Forner-Giner  1
Affiliations

An Integrated View of Whole-Tree Hydraulic Architecture. Does Stomatal or Hydraulic Conductance Determine Whole Tree Transpiration?

Juan Rodríguez-Gamir et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Hydraulic conductance exerts a strong influence on many aspects of plant physiology, namely: transpiration, CO2 assimilation, growth, productivity or stress response. However we lack full understanding of the contribution of root or shoot water transport capacity to the total water balance, something which is difficult to study in trees. Here we tested the hypothesis that whole plant hydraulic conductance modulates plant transpiration using two different seedlings of citrus rootstocks, Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf. and Cleopatra mandarin (Citrus reshni Hort ex Tan.). The two genotypes presented important differences in their root or shoot hydraulic conductance contribution to whole plant hydraulic conductance but, even so, water balance proved highly dependent on whole plant conductance. Further, we propose there is a possible equilibrium between root and shoot hydraulic conductance, similar to that between shoot and root biomass production, which could be related with xylem anatomy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Relationship between foliar biomass and whole plant transpiration (Tp) in P. trifoliata (PT) and Cleopatra mandarin (CM).
Each point represents the mean of three measurements of Tp.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Diurnal time courses of stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration (E), E/gs ratio and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) in P. trifoliata (PT) and Cleopatra mandarin (CM).
Values are means of six replicates ± SE (n = 6). For each time, different letters indicate statistically significant differences (P <0.05) (LSD test).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Root, shoot and plant hydraulic conductance (Kr, Ks and Kp, respectively), of P. trifoliata (PT) and Cleopatra mandarin (CM).
The mean (n = 16) with different letters show statistically significant differences (P <0.05).
Fig 4
Fig 4. Relationship between root hydraulic conductance (Kr) and shoot hydraulic conductance (Ks) in P. trifoliata (PT) and Cleopatra mandarin (CM).
Fig 5
Fig 5. Relationship between root hydraulic conductance (Kr) and root biomass and between shoot hydraulic conductance (Ks) and the leave biomass expressed in g of dry weight in P. trifoliata (PT) and Cleopatra mandarin (CM).
Fig 6
Fig 6. Relationship between root hydraulic conductance (Kr) and shoot hydraulic conductance (Ks) with whole plant transpiration (Tp) in P. trifoliata (PT) and Cleopatra mandarin (CM).
Each point represents the mean of three measurements of Tp.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Relationship between plant hydraulic conductance (Kp) and whole plant transpiration (Tp) in P. trifoliata (PT) and Cleopatra mandarin (CM) in sixteen independent plants for each seedling.
Each point represents the mean of three measurements of Tp for each plant.
Fig 8
Fig 8
(A) Diameter, (B) density and (C) total lumen area of xylem vessels of taproot and basal stem in cross sections of Poncirus trifoliata (PT) and Cleopatra mandarin (CM) seedlings. Histological data correspond to the mean of six independent plants (n = 6) of each rootstock. The value for each plant is the mean of three visual fields of three sections from three samples per root and stem. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences (P <0.05) (LSD test).
Fig 9
Fig 9. Light micrograph of secondary xylem from basal stem and taproot of P. trifoliata (PT) and Cleopatra mandarin (CM).
Sections were cut at 20–25 mm under and above to soil surface.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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