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Relationships among xylem transport, anatomical structure and mechanical strength in stems and roots of three Podocarpaceae species
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- 1State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
2College of Forestry and Biotechnology, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China
3State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ürümqi 830011, China
Received date: 2020-12-04
Accepted date: 2021-03-17
Online published: 2021-06-04
Supported by
National Natural Science Foundation of China(31770651);National Natural Science Foundation of China(41730638);National Natural Science Foundation of China(31901280)
Abstract
Aims Hydraulic failure is one of the primary cause of plant mortality during drought. Thus, quantitative analysis on inter-specific and inter-organ variance in hydraulic traits can help us to predict the response and even survivability of species under climate change.
Methods Here, three Podocarpaceae species (Podocarpus macrophyllus, P. macrophyllusvar. maki and Nageia nagi) grown in a mesic common garden were studied, with xylem hydraulic function (specific hydraulic conductivity (Ks); embolism resistance (P50)), anatomical structure (tracheid diameter (Dt); hydraulic diameter (Dh); tracheid wall thickness (Tw); tracheid density (Nt); pit membrane diameter (Dp); pit density (Np)) and mechanical strength (wood density (WD); tracheid thickness to span ratio ((t/b)2)) measured. Then, we analyzed hydraulic traits variance at the organ level (stem and root) in three Podocarpaceae species, and investigated the relationships among xylem hydraulic traits, anatomical structure and mechanical strength in stems and roots.
Important findings We found that: 1) The stem xylem in three Podocarpaceae species exhibited no safety- efficiency trade-off. In contrast, the root xylem exhibited safety-efficiency trade-off. 2) For stems, Ks was positively correlated with Dp, but decoupled with stem WD and (t/b)2; Stem P50 was negatively correlated with Dp, but not correlated with WD and (t/b)2. 3) For roots, Ks was positively correlated with hydraulic diameter, but negatively correlated with root Tw and (t/b)2; Root P50 was positively correlated with Tw, (t/b)2 and WD. Root xylem traits exhibited strong relationships with both Ks and P50, demonstrating its cause-and-effect basis for the safety-efficiency tradeoff. On the other hand, the absence of safety-efficiency tradeoff in stems may be attributed to the overbuilt xylem of Podocarpaceae. More experimental evidence on the overbuilding of xylem is desired in the future study.
Key words： embolism; hydraulic conductivity; vulnerability curve; tracheid; Podocarpaceae
Cite this article
LU Shi-Tong, CHEN Sen, LI Yan, WANG Zhong-Yuan, PAN Tian-Tian, YE Lin-Feng, XIE Jiang-Bo . Relationships among xylem transport, anatomical structure and mechanical strength in stems and roots of three Podocarpaceae species[J]. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 2021 , 45(6) : 659 -669 . DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2020.0402
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