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Abstract Detail



Ecophysiology

Vergara, Alex [1], Willing, Claire [2], Cruz, Roxy [1], Dawson, Todd [1].

Minimum leaf conductance; a neglected plant trait in plant water balance.

All vascular plants face a critical physiological tradeoff where to acquire CO2 they must also lose water through stomata on their leaves. When plants face water deficits, stomatal closure generally occurs if the plant is to minimize water stress and maintain a favorable water-balance. But this generally means that they will fix less carbon that could compromise growth. Under extreme water limitation when stomata may appear to close completely leaves continue to lose water through either imperfectly sealed stomata, through the leaf cuticle or both. This very low leave of leaf water loss is termed “minimum leaf conductance” (gmin). It has been shown that some plants quickly acclimate gmin to local conditions, but explicit tests of the extent of acclimation of gmin are lacking. Further, there is little consensus about the best way to quantify gmin and therefore the potential discrepancies between different methods are unclear. Using a common garden experiment and leveraging congeneric species, we investigated the degree to which gmin changed under different growing conditions. Our results suggest that gmin is more dependent on local environmental conditions than on phylogeny. We also found that the speed of acclimation (short- vs. long-term adjustments in gmin where influenced by shading in a controlled growth chamber experiment. Lastly, we compared how different leaf methodologies influenced gmin and found considerable discrepancies in reported gmin dependent on methodological selection.


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1 - University of California, Berkeley, Integrative Biology, 3040 Valley Life Sciences Building #4002, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
2 - University of California, Berkeley, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, 3040 Valley Life Sciences Building #4002, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

Keywords:
none specified

Presentation Type: Poster
Session: P, Ecophysiology Posters
Location: Arizona Ballroom/Starr Pass
Date: Monday, July 29th, 2019
Time: 5:30 PM This poster will be presented at 5:30 pm. The Poster Session runs from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm. Posters with odd poster numbers are presented at 5:30 pm, and posters with even poster numbers are presented at 6:15 pm.
Number: PPE003
Abstract ID:228
Candidate for Awards:Physiological Section Best poster presentation,Physiological Section Physiological Section Li-COR Prize


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