An increasing body of evidence has shown that nighttime sap flux occurs in most plants, but the physiological implications and regulatory mechanism are poorly known. The significance of corticular photosynthesis has received much attention during the last decade, however, the knowledge of the relationship between corticular photosynthesis and nocturnal stem sap flow is limited at present. In th...

Efficient water resource management in relation to water use and crop yields is premised on the knowledge of plant resistance to water flow. However, such studies are limited and for most crops, the within plant resistance to water flow remains largely unknown. In this study, within plant resistance to water transport (hydraulic conductance) was monitored in tomato (Lycopersicum esculuntum) and...

A number of recent observations have indicated a role for abscisic acid in maintaining water balance. Treatment with ABA reduces the transpiration rate (3, 5), probably by bringing about stomatal closure (2, 4). Furthermore, water stress leads to a significant increase in ABA concentration in leaves (5, 7). On the other hand, ABA increases the rate of root exudation (6). The present communicati...

Gas flows encountered in micro/nano scale devices are often low speed and non-continuum. The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC), a popular molecular based simulation technique for rarefied gas, has proven to be inefficient in dealing with low-speed gas flows. In this paper, we present the Octant Flux Splitting Information Preserving DSMC (OSIP-DSMC) method as an efficient DSMC method for micr...

Several experiments were conducted with tropical tree and liana seedlings in which transpiration ratio and leaf phosphorus to carbon ratio (P:C) were measured. Transpiration ratio was expressed as kg H(2)O transpired g(-1) C incorporated into plant biomass, and leaf P:C as mg P g(-1) C. Leaf P:C was positively correlated with transpiration ratio across 19 species for plants grown ...

A spatially explicit mechanistic model, MAESTRA, was used to separate key parameters affecting transpiration to provide insights into the most influential parameters for accurate predictions of within-crown and within-canopy transpiration. Once validated among Acer rubrum L. genotypes, model responses to different parameterization scenarios were scaled up to stand transpiration (expressed per u...

Field water balance measurements using monolithic lysimeters were used in validating the Cupid-DPE model for predicting water loss partitioning during sprinkler irrigation from a moving lateral system fitted with impact sprinklers and spray nozzles. The model combines equations governing water droplet evaporation and droplet ballistics with a comprehensive plant-environment energy balance model...

Oil palm and rubber plantations extend over large areas and encompass heterogeneous site conditions. In periods of high rainfall, plants in valleys and at riparian sites are more prone to flooding than plants at elevated topographic positions. We asked to what extent topographic position and flooding affect oil palm and rubber tree water use patterns and thereby influence spatial and temporal h...

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...