Testing the plant pneumatic method to estimate xylem embolism resistance in stems of temperate trees.
Tree Physiol
; 38(7): 1016-1025, 2018 07 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29474679
ABSTRACT
Methods to estimate xylem embolism resistance generally rely on hydraulic measurements, which can be far from straightforward. Recently, a pneumatic method based on air flow measurements of terminal branch ends was proposed to construct vulnerability curves by linking the amount of air extracted from a branch with the degree of embolism. We applied this novel technique for 10 temperate tree species, including six diffuse, two ring-porous and two gymnosperm species, and compared the pneumatic curves with hydraulic ones obtained from either the flow-centrifuge or the hydraulic-bench dehydration method. We found that the pneumatic method provides a good estimate of the degree of xylem embolism for all angiosperm species. The xylem pressure at 50% and 88% loss of hydraulic conductivity (i.e., Ψ50 and Ψ88) based on the methods applied showed a strongly significant correlation for all eight angiosperms. However, the pneumatic method showed significantly reduced Ψ50 values for the two conifers. Our findings suggest that the pneumatic method could provide a fast and accurate approach for angiosperms due to its convenience and feasibility, at least within the range of embolism resistances covered by our samples.
Texto completo:
1
Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Árboles
/
Transpiración de Plantas
/
Xilema
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Tree Physiol
Asunto de la revista:
BOTANICA
/
FISIOLOGIA
Año:
2018
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Alemania