Coordinating leaf functional traits with branch hydraulic conductivity: resource substitution and implications for carbon gain

Coordinating leaf functional traits with branch hydraulic conductivity: resource substitution and implications for carbon gain.

We studied relationships among branch hydraulic conductivity, xylem embolism, stomatal conductance (gs), foliar nitrogen (N) concentration and specific leaf area (SLA) of seven tree species growing at four temperate woodland sites spanning a 464-1350 mm rainfall gradient. Specifically, we examined the question: are gs and foliar N concentration coordinated with branch hydraulic conductivity and...

Functional parameterization for hydraulic conductivity inversion with uncertainty quantification

Functional inversion based on local approximate solutions (LAS) is developed for steady-state flow in heterogeneous aquifers. The method employs a set of LAS of flow to impose spatial continuity of hydraulic head and Darcy fluxes in the solution domain, which are conditioned to limited measurements. Hydraulic conductivity is first parameterized as piecewise continuous, which requires the additi...

Hydraulic conductivity measurment for subsurface drainage system

Constraints on physiological function associated with branch architecture and wood density in tropical forest trees.

This study examined how leaf and stem functional traits related to gas exchange and water balance scale with two potential proxies for tree hydraulic architecture: the leaf area:sapwood area ratio (A(L):A(S)) and wood density (rho(w)). We studied the upper crowns of individuals of 15 tropical forest tree species at two sites in Panama with contrasting moisture regimes and forest types. Transpir...

Functional Traits for Carbon Access in Macrophytes

Understanding functional trait distributions among organisms can inform impacts on and responses to environmental change. In marine systems, only 1% of dissolved inorganic carbon in seawater exists as CO2. Thus the majority of marine macrophytes not only passively access CO2 for photosynthesis, but also actively transport CO2 and the more common bicarbonate (HCO3-, 92% of seawater dissolved ino...