{"title":"Stomatal behavior and water relations in ferns and lycophytes across habits and habitats","authors":"Kyra A Prats, Adam B Roddy, Craig R Brodersen","doi":"10.1093/aobpla/plae041","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Stomatal anatomy and behavior are key to managing gas exchange fluxes, which require coordination with the plant vascular system to adequately supply leaves with water. Stomatal response times and regulation of water loss are generally understudied in ferns, especially across habits (i.e., epiphytic and terrestrial) and habitats (i.e., wet mesic and dry xeric environments). Our objectives were to 1) determine if hydraulic and anatomical traits that control water use are correlated with their habitats (i.e., xeric, mesic) and habits (i.e., epiphytic, terrestrial) for ferns and lycophytes across taxa, and 2) explore how those traits and others like average leaf water residence time correlate with stomatal function using a subset of closely related species. Epiphytic species had lower vein densities than terrestrial species, while xeric species had higher vein densities than mesic species. Xeric ferns also had smaller stomata than mesic ferns, but had similar stomatal densities. Further, in a subset of mesic and xeric ferns, the xeric ferns had higher maximum stomatal conductance and water content, as well as shorter average stomatal opening responses to light intensity, but stomatal closing times did not differ. Finally, shorter stomatal opening and closing responses were correlated with shorter water residence time. Our study highlights anatomical and physiological differences between ferns and lycophytes, which may partially explain habitat preference based on their optimization of light and water.","PeriodicalId":48955,"journal":{"name":"AoB Plants","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"AoB Plants","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plae041","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Stomatal anatomy and behavior are key to managing gas exchange fluxes, which require coordination with the plant vascular system to adequately supply leaves with water. Stomatal response times and regulation of water loss are generally understudied in ferns, especially across habits (i.e., epiphytic and terrestrial) and habitats (i.e., wet mesic and dry xeric environments). Our objectives were to 1) determine if hydraulic and anatomical traits that control water use are correlated with their habitats (i.e., xeric, mesic) and habits (i.e., epiphytic, terrestrial) for ferns and lycophytes across taxa, and 2) explore how those traits and others like average leaf water residence time correlate with stomatal function using a subset of closely related species. Epiphytic species had lower vein densities than terrestrial species, while xeric species had higher vein densities than mesic species. Xeric ferns also had smaller stomata than mesic ferns, but had similar stomatal densities. Further, in a subset of mesic and xeric ferns, the xeric ferns had higher maximum stomatal conductance and water content, as well as shorter average stomatal opening responses to light intensity, but stomatal closing times did not differ. Finally, shorter stomatal opening and closing responses were correlated with shorter water residence time. Our study highlights anatomical and physiological differences between ferns and lycophytes, which may partially explain habitat preference based on their optimization of light and water.
期刊介绍:
AoB PLANTS is an open-access, online journal that has been publishing peer-reviewed articles since 2010, with an emphasis on all aspects of environmental and evolutionary plant biology. Published by Oxford University Press, this journal is dedicated to rapid publication of research articles, reviews, commentaries and short communications. The taxonomic scope of the journal spans the full gamut of vascular and non-vascular plants, as well as other taxa that impact these organisms. AoB PLANTS provides a fast-track pathway for publishing high-quality research in an open-access environment, where papers are available online to anyone, anywhere free of charge.