Articles containing the keyword 'stomatal movement'

The water in different parts of a plant forms a continuum throughout the plant body. This makes it possible to record changes in the water content as changes in thickness of any part of the plant. A leaf kept in darkness has been found to change its thickness to a sufficient degree for recordings of changes in transpiration from the rest of the plant. The rapidness of the changes makes it probable that they are mirroring the stomatal movements.

The method has been used for recording of influences of SO₂ as air pollutant. It has a couple of advantages over direct measurements of changes in transpiration. One is that the measurement can be used without enclosing the plant in a cuvette. Another is that possibly occurring effects on the hygrometer are eliminated. The method has until now mainly been used for wheat plants but also woody plants as Pinus and Salix have been tested.

• Rufelt, E-mail: hr@mm.unknown
• Wiese, E-mail: bw@mm.unknown

The aim of this study was to investigate the ecophysiological and morphological characteristics of two salt-tolerant tree species, Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehn. and Combretum quadrangulare Kurz. A greenhouse experiment with different levels of NaCl salinity (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0%) was set up and the results were compared with those of a field study on non-saline and saline soils. The determination of optimum gas exchange and the development and evaluation of photosynthetic models with and without water deficit were also included in this study.

Morphological characteristics under saline conditions showed that shoot height and diameter growth, shoot internode length, root length/biomass, leaf width and length, leaf area, number and biomass, and shoot/root and leaf/root ratios decreased with salinity, while leaf thickness increased with salinity. More growth was allocated to the roots than to the leaf canopy. Ecophysiological studies in laboratory showed that photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and water potential decreased with salinity, while the CO₂ compensation point increased with salinity. Transpiration, dark respiration and photorespiration increased at low salinity but decreased at high salinity levels. In the field study, however, there were no significant differences in stomatal conductance and opening between saline and non-saline soils. Model predictions supported the results of the field measurements. Adaptation to salinity was reflected in an acclimatization of tree structure in the field study. There were both functioning and structural changes of seedlings in the greenhouse experiment

In terms of ecophysiological and morphological characteristics, E. Camaldulensis showed better salt tolerance than C. Quadragulare both in the greenhouse experiment and field study

The PDF includes a summary in Finnish.

• Luangjame, E-mail: jl@mm.unknown