A comprehensive analysis of the physiological and anatomical components involved in higher water loss rates after leaf development at high humidity

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2013

Authors

Dimitrios Fanourakis (Author) Other; Ep Heuvelink (Author) Other; Susana M P Carvalho (Author) FCUP

Journal

Title: Journal of Plant Physiology

Vol. 170

Pages: 890-898

ISSN: 0176-1617

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 86 Citations

Scopus - 91 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Natural sciences > Biological sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-006-9MP

DOI: 10.1016/j.jplph.2013.01.013

Abstract (EN): To better understand the poor regulation of water loss after leaf development at high relative air humidity (RH), the relative importance of the physiological and anatomical components was analyzed focusing on cultivars with a contrasting sensitivity to elevated RH. The stomatal responsiveness to three closing stimuli (desiccation, abscisic acid feeding, light/dark transition), as well as several stomata! features (density, index, size and pore dimensions) and the cuticular transpiration rate (CTR) were determined in four rose cultivars, grown under moderate (60%) and high (95%) RH. Moreover, the effects of changes in stomatal density and pore dimensions on the stomatal conductance (g(s)) were quantified using a modified version of the Brown and Escombe equation. Higher water loss, as a result of plant growth at high RH, was primarily caused by an increase in residual g(s), and to a lesser extent due to higher CTR. It was estimated that in leaflets subjected to desiccation the enhanced g(s) in high RH- as compared to moderate RH-grown plants was mostly due to poor stomatal functionality and to a lesser extent the combined result of higher stomata! density and longer pore length. It is concluded that the reduced degree and, specially, the reduced rate of stomatal closure are the primary causes of the large genotypic variation in the control of water loss in high RH-grown plants. Furthermore, it was found that although changes in stomatal length have no influence on stomatal functionality, changed anatomical features per se represent a significant and direct contribution to the increased water loss.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 9