Abstract
Plant xylem response to drought is routinely represented by a vulnerability curve (VC). Despite the significance of VCs, the connection between anatomy and tissue-level hydraulic response to drought remains a subject of inquiry. We present a numerical model of water flow in flowering plant xylem that combines current knowledge on diffuse-porous anatomy and embolism spread to explore this connection. The model produces xylem networks and uses different parameterizations of intervessel connection vulnerability to embolism spread: the Young-Laplace equation and pit membrane stretching. Its purpose is upscaling processes occurring on the microscopic length scales, such as embolism propagation through pit membranes, to obtain tissue-scale hydraulics. The terminal branch VC of Acer glabrum was successfully reproduced relying only on real observations of xylem tissue anatomy. A sensitivity analysis shows that hydraulic performance and VC shape and location along the water tension axis are heavily dependent on anatomy. The main result is that the linkage between pit-scale and vessel-scale anatomical characters, along with xylem network topology, affects VCs significantly. This work underscores the importance of stepping up research related to the three-dimensional network structure of xylem tissues. The proposed model's versatility makes it an important tool to explore similar future questions.
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Claims 4
Claim · model-written summary
The model reproduced the terminal branch vulnerability curve of Acer glabrum using anatomical observations.
- Taxon
- Acer glabrum
Acer glabrume0 - Outcome
- terminal branch VCe0
- Qualifier
- successfully reproduced relying only on real observations of xylem tissue anatomye0
Not reportedComparatorValue
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The terminal branch VC of Acer glabrum was successfully reproduced relying only on real observations of xylem tissue anatomy.”
Claim · model-written summary
Anatomy strongly affected hydraulic performance in sensitivity analysis.
Not reportedTaxonDirection
Verbatim
e0“A sensitivity analysis shows that hydraulic performance and VC shape and location along the water tension axis are heavily dependent on anatomy.”
e1“The main result is that the linkage between pit-scale and vessel-scale anatomical characters, along with xylem network topology, affects VCs significantly.”
t0“wood anatomy to xylem tissue hydraulic behaviour”
Claim · model-written summary
Anatomy strongly affected vulnerability curve shape and location along water tension.
- Taxon
- Acer glabrumAcer glabrume1
- Organ / stage
- xylem tissue anatomye1
- Outcome
- VC shape and location along the water tension axise0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“A sensitivity analysis shows that hydraulic performance and VC shape and location along the water tension axis are heavily dependent on anatomy.”
e1“The terminal branch VC of Acer glabrum was successfully reproduced relying only on real observations of xylem tissue anatomy.”
Claim · model-written summary
Pit and vessel anatomy and xylem network topology significantly affected vulnerability curves.
- Taxon
- Acer glabrumAcer glabrume1
- Organ / stage
- xylem network topologye0
- Outcome
- VCse0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The main result is that the linkage between pit-scale and vessel-scale anatomical characters, along with xylem network topology, affects VCs significantly.”
e1“The terminal branch VC of Acer glabrum was successfully reproduced relying only on real observations of xylem tissue anatomy.”