The response of sap flow to pulses of rain in a temperate Australian woodland

In water-limited systems, pulses of rainfall can trigger a cascade of plant physiological responses. However, the timing and size of the physiological response can vary depending on plant and environmental characteristics, such as rooting depth, plant size, rainfall amount, or antecedent soil moisture. We investigated the influence of pulses of rainfall on the response of sap flow of two dominant evergreen tree species, Eucalyptus crebra (a broadleaf) and Callitris glaucophylla (a needle leaved tree), in a remnant open woodland in eastern Australia. Sap flow data were collected using heat-pulse sensors installed in six trees of each species over a 2 year period which encompassed the tail-end of a widespread drought. Our objectives were to estimate the magnitude that a rainfall pulse had to exceed to increase tree water use (i.e., define the threshold response), and to determine how tree and environmental factors influenced the increase in tree water use following a rainfall pulse. We used data filtering techniques to isolate rainfall pulses, and analysed the resulting data with multivariate statistical analysis. We found that rainfall pulses less than 20 mm did not significantly increase tree water use (P > 0.05). Using partial regression analysis to hold all other variables constant, we determined that the size of the rain event (P < 0.05, R ² = 0.59), antecedent soil moisture (P < 0.05, R ² = 0.29), and tree size (DBH, cm, P < 0.05, R ² = 0.15), all significantly affected the response to rainfall. Our results suggest that the conceptual Threshold-Delay model describing physiological responses to rainfall pulses could be modified to include these factors. We further conclude that modelling of stand water use over an annual cycle could be improved by incorporating the T-D behaviour of tree transpiration. Responsible Editor: Stephen S.O. Burgess     

Short-term responses of Brassica rapa plants to low root temperature: Effects on nitrate uptake and its translocation to the shoot

Brassica rapa L. plants were grown hydroponically for 5 or 6 weeks at 20°C and then half batches of plants were transferred to tanks in which the root temperature was lowered decrementally over 1 h to 7°C. Changes in nitrate uptake rate (NUR) and nitrate transfer from roots were studied in relation to transpiration and root pressure xylem exudation flow rates over a 48- or 72-h period. The response of plants following the root temperature decrease was biphasic. During phase 1, NUR and water and solute flow rates through the root decreased sharply. Coping mechanisms came into operation during phase 2, and tended to offset the effects of low temperature. The 3-h cold-treated roots exhibited a very low NUR but 48-h cold-treated roots partly recovered their ability to absorb nitrate. Transpiration rate decreased more slowly (during 24 h) than both root xylem exudation and parameters of root conductivity (during 6 h). Beyond these respective times, transpiration rate was balanced while root xylem exudation clearly increased, but without returning to the level of control plants. Nitrate transfer to the root xylem was strongly and rapidly affected by low root temperature, but the subsequent readjustment was such that no or little difference compared with the control was apparent after 48 h. Water and solute flows were strongly decreased when nitrate was replaced by chloride in the culture solution during exudation sampling. The major role of nitrate in root hydraulic conductivity and root xylem exudation is discussed.     

利用热扩式边材液流探针（TDP）测定树木整株蒸腾耗水量的研究

 介绍了热扩散式液流探针的工作原理及利用液流探针测定树木边材液流速率的方法。利用边材液流探针和多种气象因子传感器及数据采集系统组成的微型气象站,通过对北京西山地区油松(Pinus tabulaeformis)、栓皮栎(Quercus variabilis)混交林林分平均木树干边材液流速率及风速、有效辐射和空气温度、空气相对湿度的日变化和连日变化的测定和分析,揭示了5月干旱季节两树种蒸腾耗水的日变化和连日变化规律,以及栓皮栎树干基部和树冠大枝边材液流的差异,并进行了理论推导,同时分析了液流速率的波动规律与主要气象因素波动的相关性。     

Effects of synthetic plant growth retardants and abscisic acid on root functions of Brassica rapa plants exposed to low root-zone temperature

Possible interactions of two synthetic plant-growth retardants during the short-term response of Brassica rapa L. ssp. oleifera (DC.) Metzger plants to low root-zone temperature were investigated by pretreating with mefluidide or paclobutrazol. Water and solute transfers were studied by measuring xylem sap volume flow (under root pressure exudation) and ion flow from the roots. Relations with nitrate uptake rate were also considered. Root pretreatment with paclobutrazol strongly restricted the cold-inducible processes which normally restore water and solute flow from the root xylem. Paclobutrazol decreased the rates of nitrate uptake and exudation flow from the root xylem (principally by reducing root hydraulic conductivity) with dramatic consequences for ion flow, especially that of nitrate.
The effects of root ABA pretreatment on plant response to root cooling were then studied separately or in association with a pretreatment with paclobutrazol. Despite a slight decrease in nitrate uptake rate, ABA pretreatment of the roots enabled the plant to develop rapid mechanisms for adaptation to cold constraint at the root level. Moreover, this action of exogenous ABA greatly reduced the effect of a simultaneous paclobutrazol pretreatment and partly restored water and solute flows.
Thus, the improvement of plant resistance to cold conditions brought about by treatments with mefluidide and paclobutrazol (previously shown in long-term experiments) cannot simply be explained by their short-term effects.     

Ecosystem implications of genetic variation in water-use of a dominant riparian tree

Genetic variation in dominant species can affect plant and ecosystem functions in natural systems through multiple pathways. Our study focuses on how genetic variation in a dominant riparian tree (Populus fremontii, P. angustifolia and their natural F₁ and backcross hybrids) affects whole-tree water use, and its potential ecosystem implications. Three major patterns were found. First, in a 12-year-old common garden with trees of known genetic makeup, hybrids had elevated daily integrated leaf-specific transpiration (E_tl ; P=0.013) and average canopy conductance (G_c ; P=0.037), with both E_tl and G_c ~30% higher in hybrid cross types than parental types. Second, ¹³C values of leaves from these same trees were significantly more negative in hybrids (P=0.004), and backcross hybrids had significantly more negative values than all other F₁ hybrid and parental types (P <0.001). Third, in the wild, a similar pattern was found in leaf ¹³C values where both hybrid cross types had the lowest values (P <0.001) and backcross hybrids had lower ¹³C values than any other tree type (P <0.001). Our findings have two important implications: (1) the existence of a consistent genetic difference in whole-tree physiology suggests that whole-tree gas and water exchange could be another pathway through which genes could affect ecosystems; and (2) such studies are important because they seek to quantify the genetic variation that exists in basic physiological processes—such knowledge could ultimately place ecosystem studies within a genetic framework.     

Metabolic response of Medicago sativa L. and Lotus corniculatus L roots to anoxia

Abstract Differential rates of fermentation and energy production have been implicated in the response of plant species to extended root anoxia. This study describes the metabolic response to anaerobiosis of waterlogging-tolerant birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) and waterlogging-sensitive alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). Studies were carried out on glasshouse-grown plants subjected to root anaerobiosis in nutrient solution. Rate of fermentation, as estimated by CO₂ evolution, declined significantly upon anaerobiosis in both species but was proportionally less, relative to the aerobic control, in trefoil. Another indicator of carbon flux through glycolysis, the concentration of glucose-6-phosphate, was also significantly lower in trefoil roots relative to aerobic controls. Both species showed significantly increased root exudation of K⁺, sugars and andno-N, especially during the first 2 d of root anaerobiosis, indicating changes in membrane selective permeability. The energy status of roots subjected to anaerobiosis declined sharply in both species but trefoil roots maintained higher ATP/ADP ratios for up to 4 d of anaerobiosis. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that increased fermentation activity maintains a more favourable root energy status. This higher energy status may facilitate survival by maintaining crucial root activities, such as maintenance of membrane stability.     

A model for radial water transport across plant roots

Summary A model based on the canal theory (Katou andFurumoto 1986 a, b) is proposed for the absorption of solute and water at the root periphery. The present canal model in the periphery and the model which was previously proposed for the exudation in the stele (Katou et al. 1987), are organized into a model for radial transport across excised plant roots, in the light of anatomical and physiological knowledge of maize roots. The canal equations for both canals are numerically solved to give quite a good explanation for the observed exudation of maize roots. It is found that the regulation of solute transport has a primary importance in the regulation of water transport across excised roots. The internal cell pressure of the symplast adjusts the water absorption at the root periphery to the water secretion into the vessels. There seems no need for this explanation of the radial water transport across roots to assume cell membranes with low reflection coefficient or variable water permeability. It would seem that the apoplast wall layers play a crucial role in metabolic control of water transport in roots as well as in hypocotyls.Abbreviations J _s ^ex* the theoretically estimated rate of solute exudation per unit surface area of model maize roots - J that of volume exudation per unit surface area of model maize roots - the reflection coefficient of the cell membrane against solutes     

Measurement of Cutaneous Microvascular Exudates Using Evans Blue

As an approach to the study of inflammation, strategies were evaluated for quantitative assessment of plasma exudate from thecutaneous microvasculature. Measurements were based on recovery of Evans blue dye (EB) from rat skin. After preliminary studies to evaluate extraction methods, almost complete EB recovery was accomplished by homogenizing tissue in a mixture of acetone, water and sodium sulfate. When sources of potential variation were identified, expression of results as agonist-induced plasma accumulation provided precise results based on EB measurements. Also. the feasibility of parallel biochemical studies was demonstrated.