Article
Plant Sciences
Jonas R. Coussement, Selwyn L. Y. Villers, Hilde Nelissen, Dirk Inze, Kathy Steppe
Summary: The study presents a growth model for grass leaf elongation, which integrates turgor-driven mechanisms with leaf ontogeny. Drought-induced reductions in leaf turgor pressure inhibit cell expansion and differentiation, reducing elongation rate but prolonging elongation duration. Leaf elongation is governed by the magnitude and duration of growth-enabling turgor pressure, termed as turgor-time.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Tomas Fuenzalida, Oliver Binks, Callum J. Bryant, Joe Wolfe, Marilyn C. Ball
Summary: This study presents an inexpensive, accessible, and automatable method to noninvasively monitor plant water status. By compressing the leaf lamina and measuring mechanical stress and thickness, changes in leaf turgidity and water content can be monitored.
PLANT CELL AND ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Horticulture
Moritz Knoche, Eckhard Grimm
Summary: Neck shrivel is a disorder in European plum that may be related to the asymmetrical distribution of osmolytes. The study found that cell turgor pressure slightly increased during fruit development and then decreased, while the osmotic potential became more negative. There were significant differences in osmotic potential between the stylar end and stem end of the fruit. Most plum cultivars showed more negative osmotic potential in the stylar end. These findings suggest that neck shrivel is unlikely to be explained by differences in cell turgor pressure and osmotic potential between the stem and stylar end.
Article
Plant Sciences
Norbert Kunert, Joseph Zailaa, Valentine Herrmann, Helene C. Muller-Landau, S. Joseph Wright, Rolando Perez, Sean M. McMahon, Richard C. Condit, Steven P. Hubbell, Lawren Sack, Stuart J. Davies, Kristina J. Anderson-Teixeira
Summary: The study found that leaf water potential is an effective indicator to explain habitat preferences among tropical tree species in response to drought. Evergreen tree species with lower leaf water potential were associated with drier habitats, while this trait did not predict habitat associations among deciduous species. Leaf water potential holds the potential to predict vegetation responses to climate change.
Article
Forestry
Yuta Inoue, Masatake G. G. Araki, Satoshi Kitaoka, Tatsuya Tsurita, Tadashi Sakata, Satoshi Saito, Tanaka Kenzo
Summary: This study investigated the seasonal differences in drought damage to Japanese cedar and found that the trees are most vulnerable to drought in the summer due to higher water potential at turgor loss point (psi(tlp)) during the shoot growth period.
JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Camille Ziegler, Sebastien Levionnois, Damien Bonal, Patrick Heuret, Clement Stahl, Sabrina Coste
Summary: By studying the water potential thresholds and stomatal closure in tropical rainforest species, we found that these plants may be more resilient to drought than previously believed. We also discovered a possible vulnerability of some rainforest species to climate change.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
S. A. M. McAdam, C. N. Kane, J. A. Mercado Reyes, A. A. Cardoso, T. J. Brodribb, N. K. Ruhr
Summary: This study investigates whether a significant increase in abscisic acid (ABA) levels in leaves can serve as an indicator of impending leaf death in vascular land plants. The results show that ABA levels substantially increase once leaves show signs of incipient death, possibly due to drought, freezing, or natural aging processes.
Article
Plant Sciences
Virginia Hernandez-Santana, Adrian Perez-Arcoiza, Maria C. Gomez-Jimenez, Antonio Diaz-Espejo
Summary: This study investigated the relative importance of water and carbon factors in fruit growth under drought conditions, finding that photosynthesis played a crucial role during intense cell division, while turgor was more important when cell division slowed down and growth depended on cell expansion. Despite differences in water deficit levels, turgor was identified as the major limitation to fruit growth, supporting the sink limitation hypothesis.
Article
Forestry
Hui-Qing Song, Yong-Qiang Wang, Chao-Long Yan, Wen-Hao Zeng, Ya-Jun Chen, Jiao-Lin Zhang, Hui Liu, Qian-Mei Zhang, Shi-Dan Zhu
Summary: Climate change has increased drought severity in species-rich tropical and subtropical forests in southern China. This study measured the leaf turgor loss point (p(tlp)) for 399 tree species and examined its relationship with tree abundance and mortality in six forest plots. The results showed that p(tlp) was related to tree abundance in high seasonality tropical forests, but not in low seasonality subtropical forests. Additionally, p(tlp) was not a good predictor of tree mortality and abundance changes in both humid and dry forests. These findings demonstrate the limited role of p(tlp) in predicting forest response to increasing droughts under climate change.
Article
Plant Sciences
Amanda M. Salvi, Duncan D. Smith, Mark A. Adams, Katherine A. McCulloh, Thomas J. Givnish
Summary: Photosynthetic sensitivity to drought is a key constraint on plant evolution and ecosystem function. A study on saplings of 10 Eucalyptus species found that species native to mesic habitats have higher drought sensitivity, but those with lower turgor loss points exhibit lower sensitivity. This study provides evidence that photosynthetic sensitivity in Eucalyptus evolved adaptively with macroclimatic moisture availability.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Enrico Tordoni, Francesco Petruzzellis, Azzurra Di Bonaventura, Nicola Pavanetto, Martina Tomasella, Andrea Nardini, Francesco Boscutti, Fabrizio Martini, Giovanni Bacaro
Summary: Predicting the consequences of climate change is important to mitigate impacts on vulnerable ecosystems. This study assessed current and future patterns of leaf water potential across different plant species in NE Italy and found that different plant clades respond differently to climate change, which can lead to reassembly of natural communities.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tong Zhang, Xingyun Liang, Qing Ye, Hormoz BassiriRad, Hui Liu, Pengcheng He, Guilin Wu, Xiankai Lu, Jiangming Mo, Xi'an Cai, Xingquan Rao, Junhua Yan, Shenglei Fu
Summary: Nitrogen addition can lead to increased plant water loss to the atmosphere and increased leaf hydraulic vulnerability.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Guenter G. Lehretz, Anja Schneider, Dario Leister, Uwe Sonnewald
Summary: Expression of VPZ genes in potato plants accelerates the induction and relaxation of photoprotection under various light conditions but does not improve photosynthetic rate or plant growth. Instead, tuber yield decreases under fluctuating light conditions. The negative effect may be due to reduced radiation use efficiency caused by strong NPQ induction under high light conditions.
JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE PLANT BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Ott Kangur, Kathy Steppe, Jeroen D. M. Schreel, Jonas S. von der Crone, Arne Sellin
Summary: The study found that nocturnal stomatal conductance varies greatly among different tree species under wet soil conditions, with Populus tremula showing the highest conductance and Quercus robur the lowest. As drought progressed, species tended to close their stomata at night, leading to disappearance of differences between anisohydric and isohydric species.
FUNCTIONAL PLANT BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Amelie Saunier, Stephane Greff, James D. Blande, Caroline Lecareux, Virginie Baldy, Catherine Fernandez, Elena Ormeno
Summary: This experiment studied the metabolome changes in Quercus pubescens leaves exposed to amplified drought conditions, showing that 75% of metabolites were upregulated in springs while 60 to 73% were downregulated in summers/autumns, with some metabolites demonstrating antioxidant ability.
Article
Ecology
Qi-Wei Zhang, Shi-Dan Zhu, Steven Jansen, Kun-Fang Cao
Summary: The study investigated the embolism resistance of xylem in 17 evergreen species in karst hills of Southwest China, and found that plant water potential decreases with relative altitude while stem and leaf xylem show increasing resistance to hydraulic dysfunction. Plant hydraulic safety largely shapes the niche differentiation and community assembly in highly heterogeneous and water-limited landscapes.
FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Soil Science
Gbadamassi G. O. Dossa, Yun-Qiang Yang, Weiming Hu, Ekananda Paudel, Douglas Schaefer, Yong-Ping Yang, Kun-Fang Cao, Jian-Chu Xu, Kathryn E. Bushley, Rhett D. Harrison
Summary: Fungi play a crucial role in decomposing woody debris in forests. Changes in fungal diversity and composition were found to influence wood decomposition rates, with wood species and termite presence being key factors impacting fungal diversity. Although fungal diversity was not a significant predictor of wood specific gravity loss, functional replacement was identified as a potential mechanism explaining similar decomposition rates across disturbance gradient.
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Zafar Siddiq, Ya-Jun Chen, Kun-Fang Cao
Summary: Large-diameter hail is rare in the lowland tropics, making its impact on water flux responses of trees and lianas unknown. A study conducted in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in southern Yunnan, China, found that the impact of a severe hailstorm on sap flux density of tropical trees and lianas was mild or neglectable. This study enhances our understanding of water flux in tropical woody species exposed to hailstorm events.
Article
Plant Sciences
Hu Sun, Qi Shi, Shi-Bao Zhang, Wei Huang
Summary: Photosystem I (PSI) is the main target of photoinhibition under fluctuating light (FL), and photosynthetic organisms use alternative electron flows to protect PSI under FL. The coordination of alternative electron flows under FL at different temperature stresses varies, with different responses observed in cyclic electron flow (CEF) and water-water cycle (WWC) at different temperatures. The findings indicate that CEF and WWC coordinate to protect PSI under FL at temperature stresses.
Article
Plant Sciences
Jie-Lin Wang, Shun-Ling Tan, Ming-Xia He, Wei Huang, Jun-Chao Huang
Summary: Overexpression of four genes involved in astaxanthin biosynthesis in Brassica napus resulted in the accumulation of nonnative ketocarotenoids, decreased levels of chlorophylls and other carotenoids, and ultimately led to slower growth and decreased biomass production in the transgenic plants. The reduced photosynthetic efficiency caused by the altered carotenoid levels negatively impacted plant growth in B. napus.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Hu Sun, Qi Shi, Shi-Bao Zhang, Wei Huang
Summary: The study found that leaf nitrogen content significantly influenced the response of PSI to fluctuating light in tomatoes grown under nitrogen deficiency. High-nitrogen plants were more susceptible to over-reduction of PSI compared to low-nitrogen plants, which gradually increased PSII electron flow to avoid this issue.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Zhi-Lan Zeng, Hu Sun, Xiao-Qian Wang, Shi-Bao Zhang, Wei Huang
Summary: This study reveals that the regulation of leaf angle is an important strategy used by young leaves to protect PSI against photoinhibition under fluctuating light conditions. The vertical leaf angle decreases light absorption and lowers the amplitude of low/high light intensity, thus reducing PSI photoinhibition.
Article
Plant Sciences
Qi Shi, Hu Sun, Stefan Timm, Shibao Zhang, Wei Huang
Summary: Plants grown under high light conditions have better photosynthetic performance and photorespiration capacity when facing fluctuating light. Photorespiration plays a protective role for photosystem I when there is a sudden increase in illumination.
Article
Forestry
Dong-Liu Huang, Zhong-Guo Li, Wei Xiang, Kun-Fang Cao, Shi-Dan Zhu
Summary: This study found that hydraulic safety-related traits are good predictors of the long-term growth rate of economically important timber tree species planted in degraded dry karst areas. These findings provide guidelines to improve the efficiency of future ecological restoration.
TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Hui Wang, Xiao-Qian Wang, Yi-Zhang Xing, Qing-Yun Zhao, Hui-Fa Zhuang, Wei Huang
Summary: In CAM plants, such as Vanilla planifolia, the enhancement of NPQ and Y(ND) for photoprotection when CO2 assimilation is restricted is mainly regulated by the activity of chloroplast ATP synthase (g(H)(+)) rather than cyclic electron flow (CEF).
Article
Cell Biology
Jun-Bin Cheng, Shi-Bao Zhang, Jin-Song Wu, Wei Huang
Summary: In this study, the dynamic changes of flavodiiron proteins (FLVs) and cyclic electron flow (CEF) in non-angiosperms were investigated. It was found that FLVs played a longer functional role in preventing PSI photoinhibition than previously thought, while CEF was mainly involved in energy balancing. When FLVs were inactivated, CEF was re-activated to favor photoprotection and sustain photosynthesis.
Article
Plant Sciences
Hu Sun, Shi-Bao Zhang, Jose Javier Peguero-Pina, Wei Huang
Summary: Compared to evergreens, deciduous tree species have higher photosynthetic capacity, which is evolutionally associated with increased stomatal conductance and mesophyll conductance. The difference in mesophyll conductance between the two groups is mainly determined by mesophyll and chloroplast surface area exposed to intercellular air space. Deciduous trees also display a faster induction speed of photosynthesis, mainly due to the maintenance of higher stomatal conductance. These cell-level traits allow deciduous trees to achieve carbon gains comparable to evergreen species despite their shorter growing season.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Xiao-Qian Wang, Hu Sun, Zhi-Lan Zeng, Wei Huang
Summary: Nitrogen and water are essential resources for leaf photosynthesis and plant growth. The photosynthetic capacity of leaves within branches gradually increases from shade to sun leaves, accompanied by increased stomatal conductance and leaf nitrogen content. The adjustment of nitrogen and water investments within branches is important for optimizing photosynthetic carbon gain and nitrogen use efficiency.
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Hu Sun, Qi Shi, Ning-Yu Liu, Shi-Bao Zhang, Wei Huang
Summary: We found that drought stress delays the initiation of photosynthesis and exacerbates the loss of carbon gain under fluctuating light in tomato seedlings. Additionally, drought stress aggravates the over-reduction of photosystem I and suppresses the photoprotection of photosystem I. However, drought stress also enhances relative cyclic electron flow, which partially compensates for restricted CO2 fixation and promotes the photoprotection of photosystem I.
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Xiao-Qian Wang, Zhi-Lan Zeng, Zi-Ming Shi, Ji-Hua Wang, Wei Huang
Summary: Photosynthetic efficiency varies among different rose genotypes, with stomatal conductance playing a crucial role in determining the efficiency under fluctuating light conditions. This study compared the photosynthetic performance of two modern rose cultivars and one old Chinese rose plant, revealing the importance of mesophyll conductance in dynamic photosynthesis and its potential for improving photosynthetic efficiency in rose cultivars.