Leaf resistance for water vapor (total diffusion resistance minus boundary layer resistance), transpiration, and leaf temperature were measured in attached leaves of greenhouse-grown Xanthium strumarium L. plants that had been pretreated for 72 hours with high (40 C day, 35 C night), or low (10 C day, 5 C night) air temperatures. Measurements were made in a wind tunnel at light intensity of 1.1...

Spring geophytes produce larger storage organs and present delayed leaf senescence under lower growth temperature. Bulb and leaf carbon metabolism were investigated in Erythronium americanum to identify some of the mechanisms that permit this improved growth at low temperature. Plants were grown under three day/night temperature regimes: 18/14 °C, 12/8 °C, and 8/6 °C. Starch accumulated more sl...

Functional-structural plant modeling (FSPM) is a fast and dynamic method to predict plant growth under varying environmental conditions. Temperature is a primary factor affecting the rate of plant development. In the present study, we used three different temperature treatments (10/14°C, 18/22°C, and 26/30°C) to test the effect of temperature on growth and development of rapeseed (Brassica napu...

The balance between cell proliferation and cell differentiation is essential for leaf patterning. However, identification of the factors coordinating leaf patterning and cell growth behavior is challenging. Here, we characterized a temperature-sensitive Arabidopsis mutant with leaf blade and venation defects. We mapped the mutation to the sub-2 allele of the SCRAMBLED/STRUBBELIG (SCM/SUB) recep...

We examined the effects of artificially altering leaf angle of the tropical tree species Acacia crassicarpa (A. Cunn. ex Benth., Fabaceae) on light interception, leaf temperature and photosynthesis in the wet and dry seasons of tropical Australia. Reducing leaf angle from the natural near-vertical angle (90 degrees ) to 67.5, 45, 22.5 and 0 degrees greatly increased light interception and leaf ...

Leaf size varies by over a 100,000-fold among species worldwide. Although 19th-century plant geographers noted that the wet tropics harbor plants with exceptionally large leaves, the latitudinal gradient of leaf size has not been well quantified nor the key climatic drivers convincingly identified. Here, we characterize worldwide patterns in leaf size. Large-leaved species predominate in wet, h...

Climate change has resulted in major changes in plant phenology across the globe that includes leaf-out date and flowering time. The ability of species to respond to climate change, in part, depends on their response to climate as a phenological cue in general. Species that are not phenologically responsive may suffer in the face of continued climate change. Comparative studies of phenology hav...

The use of LED technology is commonly assumed to result in significantly cooler leaf 1 temperatures than high pressure sodium technology. To evaluate the magnitude of this 2 effect, we measured radiation incident to and absorbed by a leaf under four radiation 3 sources: clear sky sunlight in the field, sunlight in a glass greenhouse, and indoor plants 4 under either high pressure sodium or ligh...

The use of LED technology is commonly assumed to result in significantly cooler leaf temperatures than high pressure sodium technology. To evaluate the magnitude of this effect, we measured radiation incident to and absorbed by a leaf under four radiation sources: clear sky sunlight in the field, sunlight in a glass greenhouse, and indoor plants under either high pressure sodium or light emitti...

The growth kinetics of spinach plants (Spinacia oleracea L. cv Savoy) grown at 5 degrees C or 16 degrees C were determined to allow us to compare leaf tissues of the same developmental stage rather than chronological age. The second leaf pairs reached full expansion at a plant age of 32 and 92 days for the 16 degrees C and 5 degrees C plants, respectively. Growth at 5 degrees C resulted in an i...