Stomatal responses to humidity and temperature in darkness |
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Authors: | KEITH A MOTT DAVID PEAK |
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Institution: | 1. Biology Department and;2. Physics Department, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 85433‐4415, USA |
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Abstract: | Stomatal responses to leaf temperature (Tl) and to the mole fractions of water vapour in the ambient air (wa) and the leaf intercellular air spaces (wi) were determined in darkness to remove the potential effects of changes in photosynthesis and intercellular CO2 concentration. Both the steady‐state and kinetic responses of stomatal conductance (gs) to wa in darkness were found to be indistinguishable from those in the light. gs showed a steep response to the difference (Δw) between wa and wi when wa was varied. The response was much less steep when wi was varied. Although stomatal apertures responded steeply to Tl when Δw was held constant at 17 mmol mol?1, the response was much less steep when Δw was held constant at about zero. Similar results were obtained in the light for Δw = 15 mmol mol?1 and Δw ≈ 0 mmol mol?1. These results are discussed in the context of mechanisms for the stomatal response to humidity. |
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Keywords: | aperture conductance guard cell stomata |
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