Foliar water uptake: a common water acquisition strategy for plants of the redwood forest |
| |
Authors: | Emily Burns Limm Kevin A Simonin Aron G Bothman Todd E Dawson |
| |
Institution: | (1) Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA |
| |
Abstract: | Evaluations of plant water use in ecosystems around the world reveal a shared capacity by many different species to absorb
rain, dew, or fog water directly into their leaves or plant crowns. This mode of water uptake provides an important water
subsidy that relieves foliar water stress. Our study provides the first comparative evaluation of foliar uptake capacity among
the dominant plant taxa from the coast redwood ecosystem of California where crown-wetting events by summertime fog frequently
occur during an otherwise drought-prone season. Previous research demonstrated that the dominant overstory tree species, Sequoia sempervirens, takes up fog water by both its roots (via drip from the crown to the soil) and directly through its leaf surfaces. The present
study adds to these early findings and shows that 80% of the dominant species from the redwood forest exhibit this foliar
uptake water acquisition strategy. The plants studied include canopy trees, understory ferns, and shrubs. Our results also
show that foliar uptake provides direct hydration to leaves, increasing leaf water content by 2–11%. In addition, 60% of redwood
forest species investigated demonstrate nocturnal stomatal conductance to water vapor. Such findings indicate that even species
unable to absorb water directly into their foliage may still receive indirect benefits from nocturnal leaf wetting through
suppressed transpiration. For these species, leaf-wetting events enhance the efficacy of nighttime re-equilibration with available
soil water and therefore also increase pre-dawn leaf water potentials. |
| |
Keywords: | Leaf wetness Water absorption Nocturnal conductance Stable isotopes Deuterium |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|