Plant physiological adaptation to the global rise in atmospheric CO(2) concentration (CO(2)) is identified as a crucial climatic forcing. To optimize functioning under rising CO(2), plants reduce the diffusive stomatal conductance of their leaves (g(s)) dynamically by closing stomata and structurally by growing leaves with altered stomatal densities and pore sizes. The structural adaptations re...

This review considers stomatal conductance as an indicator of genotypic differences in the growth response to water stress. The benefits of using stomatal conductance are compared with photosynthetic rate and other indicators of genetic variation in water stress tolerance, along with the use of modern phenomics technologies. Various treatments for screening for genetic diversity in response to ...

The effects of salinity on growth, stomatal conductance, photosynthetic capacity, and carbon isotope discrimination (Delta) of Gossypium hirsutum L. and Phaseolus vulgaris L. were evaluated. Plants were grown at different NaCl concentrations from 10 days old until mature reproductive structures were formed. Plant growth and leaf area development were strongly reduced by salinity, in both cotton...

Young, visually symptomless leaves from potato (Solanum tuberosum) plants infected with Verticillium dahliae exhibited reduced carbon assimilation rate, stomatal conductance, and intercellular CO(2), but no increase in dark respiration, no change in the relationship between carbon assimilation rate versus intercellular CO(2), and no change in light use efficiency when intercellular CO(2) was he...

Ethylene, abscisic acid, and cytokinins were tested for their ability to either induce or prevent the changes which occur in gas exchange characteristics of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. cv. Rheinlands Ruhm) leaves during short-term soil flooding. Ethylene, which increases in the shoots of flooded plants, had no effect on stomatal conductance or photosynthetic capacity of drained plants...

[1] Using a simple dynamic vegetation model coupled to an intermediate complexity climate model Kleidon [2004] suggests that an optimum stomatal conductance exists at which vegetation productivity is maximized. It is suggested that this maximum is the result of two competing processes: 1) the increased supply of CO2 with increased stomatal conductance and 2) increased cloud cover, associated wi...

Photosynthesis limitation by CO2 flow constraints from sub-stomatal cavities to carboxylation sites in chloroplasts under drought stress conditions is, at least in some plant species or crops not fully understood, yet. Leaf mesophyll conductance for CO2 (gm) may considerably affect both photosynthesis and water use efficiency (WUE) in plants under drought conditions. The aim of our study was to...

A principle response of C3 plants to increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO(2) (CO(2)) is to reduce transpirational water loss by decreasing stomatal conductance (g(s)) and simultaneously increase assimilation rates. Via this adaptation, vegetation has the ability to alter hydrology and climate. Therefore, it is important to determine the adaptation of vegetation to the expected anthropoge...

The structure of leaf vasculature viewed over a broad phylogenetic scale from lycophytes to eudicots correlates with stomatal conductance, providing the basis for the hypothesis that increasing vein density drove the evolution of high fluxes in angiosperms. Yet, the relationship between vascular geometry and gas fluxes breaks down at finer phylogenetic scales. In this Update, we derive a simple...

Rapid stomatal closure induced by changes in the environment, such as elevation of CO2, reduction of air humidity, darkness, and pulses of the air pollutant ozone (O3), involves the SLOW ANION CHANNEL1 (SLAC1). SLAC1 is activated by OPEN STOMATA1 (OST1) and Ca(2+)-dependent protein kinases. OST1 activation is controlled through abscisic acid (ABA)-induced inhibition of type 2 protein phosphatas...