Skip to main content
Log in

Seasonal patterns of leaf water relations in four co-occurring forest tree species: Parameters from pressure-volume curves

  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Leaf water relationships were studied in four widespread forest tree species (Ilex opaca Ait., Cornus florida L., Acer rubrum L., and Liriodendron tulipifera L.). The individuals studied all occurred on the same site and were selected to represent a range of growth forms and water relationships in some of the principal tree species of the region. The water relations of the species were analyzed using the concept of the water potential-water content relationship. The pressure-volume method was used to measure this relationship using leaf material sampled from naturally occurring plants in the field. Water potential components (turgor, osmotic, and matric) were obtained by analysis of the pressure-volume curves.

Initial osmotic potentials (the value of the osmotic component at full turgidity) were highest (least negative) at the start of the growing season. They decreased (becoming progressively more negative) as the season progressed through a drought period. Following a period of precipitation at the end of the drought period, initial osmotic potentials increased toward the values measured earlier in the season.

Seasonal osmotic adjustments were sufficient in all species to allow maintenance of leaf turgor through the season, with one exception: Acer appeared to undergo some midday turgor loss during the height of the July drought period.

In addition to environmental influences, tissue stage of development played a role; young Ilex leaves had higher early season initial osmotic potentials than overwintering leaves from the same tree.

The seasonal pattern of initial osmotic potential in Liriodendron and the observed pattern of leaf mortality suggested a possible role of osmotic potentials in the resistance of those leaves to drought conditions. The fraction of total leaf water which is available to affect osmotic potentials, called the osmotic water fraction in this study, was greatest in young tissue early in the season and declined as the season progressed.

The results of this study showed that the water potential-water content relationship represents a dynamic mechanism by which plant internal water relations may vary in response to a changing external water-availability regime. The measured water relationships confirmed the relative positions of the species along a water-availability gradient, with Cornus at the wettest end and Ilex at the driest end of the gradient. Acer and Liriodendron were intermediate in their water relations. The spread of these species along a water-availability gradient on the same site suggested that coexistence is partially based on differential water use patterns.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acevedo Hinojosa E (1975) The growth of maize Zea mays L. under field conditions as affected by its water relations. Davis, Ca, PhD Thesis, University of California

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyer JS (1965) Effects of osmotic water stress on metabolic rates of cotton plants with open stomata. Plany Physiol 40:229–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheung YNS, Tyree MT, Dainty J (1975) Water relations parameters on single leaves obtained in a pressure bomb and some ecological implications. Can J Bot 53:1342–1346

    Google Scholar 

  • Clelland R (1971) Cell wall extension. Ann Rev Plant Physiol 22:197–222

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutler JM, Rains DW, Loomis RS (1977) Role of changes in solute concentration in maintaining favorable water balance in field-grown cotton. Agron J 69:773–779

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitting H (1911) Die Wasserversorgung und die osmotischen Druckverhältnisse der Wüstenpflanzen. Z Bot 3:209–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowells HA (1965) Silvics of forest trees of the United States. In: US Dep Agric, Agric Handb 271

  • Gale J, Kohl HC, Hagan RM (1967) Changes in the water balance and photosynthesis of onion, bean and cotton plants under saline conditions. Physiol Plant 20:408–420

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner WR, Ehlig CF (1965) Physical aspects of the internal water relations of plant leaves. Plant Physol 40:705–710

    Google Scholar 

  • Hellkvist J, Richards GP, Jarvis PG (1974) Vertical gradients of water potential and tissue water relaions in Sitka spruce trees measured with the pressure chamber. J Appl Ecol 11:637–667

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinckley TM, Lassoie JP, Running SW (1978) Temporal and spatial variations in selected biological parameters indicative of water stress in forest trees. For Sci Monograph 20:1–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Höfler K (1920) Ein Schema für die osmotische Leistung der Pflanzenelle. Ber Dtsch Bot Ges 38:288–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsiao TC (1973) Plant responses to water stress. Ann Rev Pl Physiol 24:519–570

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsiao TC, Acevedo E, Fereres E, Henderson DW (1976) Stress metabolism. Phil Trans Roy Soc London Ser B: 273:479–500

    Google Scholar 

  • Hursh CR, Haasis FW (1931) Effects of 1925 summer drought on southern Appalachian hardwoods. Ecology 12:380–386

    Google Scholar 

  • Knipling EB (1966) Comparison of the dye method with the thermocouple psychrometer for measuring leaf water potentials. Durham, NC, PhD Thesis, Duke University

    Google Scholar 

  • Knipling EB (1967) Effect of leaf aging on water deficit-water potential relationship of dogwood leaves growing in two environments. Physiol Plant 20:65–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Kramer PJ, Knipling EB, Miller LN Therminology of cell water relations. Science 153:889–890

  • Ladiges PY (1975) Some aspects of tissue water relations in three populations of Eucalyptus viminalis Labill. New Phytol 75:53–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt J (1972) Responses of plants to environmental stresses. Academic Press New York London

    Google Scholar 

  • McConathy RK, McLaughlin SB, Reichele DE, Dinger BE (1976) Leaf energy balance and transpirational relationships of tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). Eastern Deciduous Forest Biome IBP-76/6. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn

    Google Scholar 

  • Oosting HJ (1942) An ecological analysis of the plant communities of Piedmont, North Carolina. Am Midl Nat 28:1–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Radford AE, Ahles HE, Bell CR (1968) Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts SW, Knoerr KR (1977) Components of water potential estimated from xylem pressure measurements in five tree species. Oecologia 28:191–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts SW, Knoerr KR (1978) In situ estimates of variable plant resistance to water flux in Ilex opaca Ait. Plant Physiol 61:311–313

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts SW, Knoerr KR, Strain BR (1979) Comparative field water relations of four co-occurring forest tree species. Can J Bot 57:1876–1882

    Google Scholar 

  • Saakyan RG, Petrosyan GP (1964) Effect of soil salinity on the level of nucleic acids and nitrogenous substances in grape leaves. Fiziol Rast 11:681–688

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholander PF, Hammel HT, Hemmingsen EA, Bradstreet ED (1964) Hydrostatic pressure and osmotic potential in leaves of mangroves and some other plants. Proc Nat Acad Sci 52:119–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholander PF, Hammel HT, Bradstreet ED, Hemmingsen EA (1965) Sap pressure in vascular plants. Science 148:339–346

    Google Scholar 

  • Shevyakova NI (1966) Effect of salts on the biosynthesis of certain amino acids of broad-bean leaves. Dokl Akad Nauk SSSR 167:471–473

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanson CA (1943) Transpiration in American holly in relation to leaf structure. Ohio J Sci 43:43–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner NC (1974) Stomatal behavior and water status of maize, sorghum, and tobacco under field conditions. II. At low soil water potential. Plant Physiol 53:360–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner NC (1975) Stomatal response to light and water under field conditions. In: Mechanisms of regulation of plant growth, Wellington NZ: Roy Soc NZ Bull 12:423–432

  • Tyree MT, Hammel HT (1972) The measurement of the turgor pressure and water relations of plants by the pressure-bomb technique. J Exp Bot 23:267–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyree MT, Dainty J, Benis M (1973) The water relations of hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). I. Some equilibrium water relations as measured by the pressure-bomb technique. Can J Bot 51:1471–1480

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyree MT, Cheung YNS, MacGregor ME, Talbot AJB (1978) The characteristics of seasonal and ontogenetic changes in the tissue-water relations of Acer, Populus, Tsuga, and Picea. Can J Bot 56:635–647

    Google Scholar 

  • Ursprung A (1929) The osmotic quantities of the plant cell. Proc Int Congr Plant Sci 2:1081–1094

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Roberts, S.W., Strain, B.R. & Knoerr, K.R. Seasonal patterns of leaf water relations in four co-occurring forest tree species: Parameters from pressure-volume curves. Oecologia 46, 330–337 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346260

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00346260

Keywords

Navigation