Day length regulates seasonal patterns of stomatal conductance in Quercus species |
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Authors: | Elena Granda Frederik Baumgarten Arthur Gessler Eustaquio Gil-Pelegrin Jose Javier Peguero-Pina Domingo Sancho-Knapik Niklaus E Zimmermann Víctor Resco de Dios |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Crop and Forest Sciences—AGROTECNIO Center, Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, 25198 Spain;2. Forest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, CH-8903 Switzerland;3. Unidad de Recursos Forestales, Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentaria de Aragón, Gobierno de Aragón, Avda. Montañana 930, Zaragoza, 50059 Spain;4. School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, 621010 China |
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Abstract: | Vapour pressure deficit is a major driver of seasonal changes in transpiration, but photoperiod also modulates leaf responses. Climate warming might enhance transpiration by increasing atmospheric water demand and the length of the growing season, but photoperiod-sensitive species could show dampened responses. Here, we document that day length is a significant driver of the seasonal variation in stomatal conductance. We performed weekly gas exchange measurements across a common garden experiment with 12 oak species from contrasting geographical origins, and we observed that the influence of day length was of similar strength to that of vapour pressure deficit in driving the seasonal pattern. We then examined the generality of our findings by incorporating day-length regulation into well-known stomatal models. For both angiosperm and gymnosperm species, the models improved significantly when adding day-length dependences. Photoperiod control over stomatal conductance could play a large yet underexplored role on the plant and ecosystem water balances. |
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Keywords: | circadian rhythm day length gas exchange latitude Mediterranean Quercus stomatal control temperate tropical woody plants |
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