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BRANCH JUNCTIONS AND THE FLOW OF WATER THROUGH XYLEM IN DOUGLAS-FIR AND PONDEROSA PINE STEMS
Citation:
Schulte, P. J. AND J R. Brooks. BRANCH JUNCTIONS AND THE FLOW OF WATER THROUGH XYLEM IN DOUGLAS-FIR AND PONDEROSA PINE STEMS. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY. Society for Experimental Biology, 54(387):1597-1605, (2003).
Description:
Water flowing through the xylem of most plants from the roots to the leaves must pass through junctions where branches have developed from the main stem. These junctions have been studied as both flow constrictions and components of a hydraulic segmentation mechanism to protect the main axes of the plant. The hydraulic nature of the branch junction also affects the degree to which branches interact and can respond to changes in flow to other branches. In this study, junctions from shoots of two conifer species were studied with particular emphasis on the coupling between the downstream branches. Flow was observed qualitatively by forcing stain through the junctions and the resulting patterns show that flow into a branch is confined to only part of the subtending xylem until a considerable distance below the junction. Junctions were studied quantitatively by measuring flow rates in a branch before and after flow was stopped in an adjacent branch and by measuring the hydraulic resistance of the components of the junction. Following flow stoppage in the adjacent branch, flow into the remaining branch increased, but considerably less than predicted based on a simple resistance analog for the branch junction that assumes the two branches are fully coupled. The branches downstream from a junction therefore appear to be limited in their interconnectedness and hence ability to interact.