The spatial distributions of leaf expansion rate, cell division rate and cell size was examined under contrasting soil water conditions, evaporative demands and temperatures in a series of experiments carried out in either constant or naturally fluctuating conditions. They were examined in the epidermis and all leaf tissues. (1) Meristem temperature affected relative elongation rate by a consta...

Leaf hydraulic supply is crucial to maintaining open stomata for CO2 capture and plant growth. During drought-induced dehydration, the leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) declines, which contributes to stomatal closure and, eventually, to leaf death. Previous studies have tended to attribute the decline of Kleaf to embolism in the leaf vein xylem. We visualized at high resolution and quantified ...

This study combines existing hydraulic principles with recently developed methods for probing leaf hydraulic function to determine whether xylem physiology can explain the dynamic response of gas exchange both during drought and in the recovery phase after rewatering. Four conifer species from wet and dry forests were exposed to a range of water stresses by withholding water and then rewatering...

Despite considerable investigations of diurnal water use characteristics in different plant functional groups, the research on daily water use strategies of woody bamboo grasses remains lacking. We studied the daily water use and gas exchange of Sinarundinaria nitida (Mitford) Nakai, an abundant subtropical bamboo species in Southwest China. We found that the stem relative water content (RWC) a...

The success of non-native, invasive species may be due to release from natural enemies, superior competitive abilities, or both. In the Sonoran Desert, Erodium cicutarium has increased in abundance over the last 30 years. While native species in this flora exhibit a strong among-species trade-off between relative growth rate and water-use efficiency, E. cicutarium seems to have a higher relativ...

The corrosion inhibition efficiency of the vasaka leaf extract for protecting mild steel in potable water (neutral aqueous medium) was studied by weight loss, Open circuit potential monitoring and potentiometric polarization methods. The inhibition test was performed in potable water rather than deionized water because inhibitors are normally applied in neutral and industrial waters. The extrac...

Hydraulic conductance of leaves (K(leaf)) typically decreases with increasing water stress. However, the extent to which the decrease in K(leaf) is due to xylem cavitation, conduit deformation or changes in the extra-xylary pathway is unclear. We measured K(leaf) concurrently with ultrasonic acoustic emission (UAE) in dehydrating leaves of two vessel-bearing and two tracheid-bearing species to ...