Tip-to-base xylem conduit widening as an adaptation: causes, consequences, and empirical priorities.

In the stems of terrestrial vascular plants studied to date, the diameter of xylem water-conducting conduits D widens predictably with distance from the stem tip L approximating D âˆ Lb , with b ≈ 0.2. Because conduit diameter is central for conductance, it is essential to understand the cause of this remarkably pervasive pattern. We give reason to suspect that tip-to-base conduit widening is an adaptation, favored by natural selection because widening helps minimize the increase in hydraulic resistance that would otherwise occur as an individual stem grows longer and conductive path length increases. Evidence consistent with adaptation includes optimality models that predict the 0.2 exponent. The fact that this prediction can be made with a simple model of a single capillary, omitting much biological detail, itself makes numerous important predictions, e.g. that pit resistance must scale isometrically with conduit resistance. The idea that tip-to-base conduit widening has a nonadaptive cause, with temperature, drought, or turgor limiting the conduit diameters that plants are able to produce, is less consistent with the data than an adaptive explanation. We identify empirical priorities for testing the cause of tip-to-base conduit widening and underscore the need to study plant hydraulic systems leaf to root as integrated wholes.

Leaf hydraulic vulnerability to drought is linked to site water availability across a broad range of species and climates.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Vulnerability of the leaf hydraulic pathway to water-stress-induced dysfunction is a key component of drought tolerance in plants and may be important in defining species' climatic range. However, the generality of the association between leaf hydraulic vulnerability and climate across species and sites remains to be tested. METHODS: Leaf hydraulic vulnerability to drought (P50leaf, the water potential inducing 50 % loss in hydraulic function) was measured in a diverse group of 92 woody, mostly evergreen angiosperms from sites across a wide range of habitats. These new data together with some previously published were tested against key climate indices related to water availability. Differences in within-site variability in P50leaf between sites were also examined. KEY RESULTS: Values of hydraulic vulnerability to drought in leaves decreased strongly (i.e. became more negative) with decreasing annual rainfall and increasing aridity across sites. The standard deviation in P50leaf values recorded within each site was positively correlated with increasing aridity. P50leaf was also a good indicator of the climatic envelope across each species' distributional range as well as their dry-end distributional limits within Australia, although this relationship was not consistently detectable within sites. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that species sorting processes have influenced distributional patterns of P50leaf across the rainfall spectrum, but alternative strategies for dealing with water deficit exist within sites. The strong link to aridity suggests leaf hydraulic vulnerability may influence plant distributions under future climates.

Bark functional ecology: evidence for tradeoffs, functional coordination, and environment producing bark diversity.

The causes underlying bark diversity are unclear. Variation has been frequently attributed to environmental differences across sites. However, variation may also result from tradeoffs and coordination between bark's multiple functions. Bark traits may also covary with wood and leaf traits as part of major dimensions of plant variation. To assess hypotheses regarding tradeoffs and functional coordination, we measured bark traits reflecting protection, storage, mechanics, and photosynthesis in branches of 90 species spanning a wide phylogenetic and environmental range. We also tested associations between bark, wood, and leaf traits. We partitioned trait variation within species, and within and across communities to quantify variation associated with across-site differences. We observed associations between bark mechanics and storage, density and thickness, and thickness and photosynthetic activity. Increasing bark thickness contributed significantly to stiffer stems and greater water storage. Bark density, water content, and mechanics covaried strongly with the equivalent wood traits, and to a lesser degree with leaf size, xylem conductivity, and vessel diameter. Most variation was observed within sites and had low phylogenetic signal. Compared with relatively minor across-site differences, tradeoffs and coordination among functions of bark, leaves, and wood are likely to be major and overlooked factors shaping bark ecology and evolution.