Long-Distance Signal Transmission in Trees - Communication in Plants: Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life - page 337

a hydraulic signal must cause a significant change in turgor pressure in-
side a cell. As plant cells can be elastic, their turgor will change only when
a strong influx (or efflux) of water occurs: the flux is strictly linked with the
hydraulic capacitance of the cell. Thus, hydraulic signals must involve sig-
nificant mass flow of water; for example, to increase the turgor pressure in
leaf cells by 1 bar, a net water influx equivalent to 1-5% of the total volume
of a leaf must occur (Malone 1996). Clearly, the kinetics of pressure change
inside plant tissues; they are correlated to and depend on the magnitude
and distribution of hydraulic resistances along the pathway. Leaf hydraulic
resistances have been measured for a large number of tree species. Most
of the resistance in the aboveground part of a tree is located within the
leaf blade. For example, the leaf resistance expressed as a percentage of the
total resistance between trunk and leaves is 80-90% for Quercus (Tyree et
al. 1993a), around 80% for Juglans (Tyree et al. 1993b) and less than 50%
for Acer (Yang and Tyree 1994). Measurements of leaf resistance in young
apical and old basal branches of a Fraxinus tree have yielded contrasting
results (Cochard et al. 1997). Most of the resistance was indeed located in
the leaf blade in the apical shoots, but for older shoots, the resistance was
mainly in the axis.
In addition, an important factor in hydraulic signal transmission is the
hydraulic capacitance of the receiving tissue. There is considerable evidence
that trees undergo seasonal and diurnal fluctuations in water content. These
fluctuations can be viewed as water going into and out of storage. Water-
storage capacity can be defined in different ways (Cruiziat et al. 2002). The
relationship between water content and water potential is known as the
hydraulic capacitance (Cw) of plant tissue and means the mass of water
( ∆ ∆ Ψ Mw) that can be extracted per unit change in water potential ( )of

∆ ∆ Ψ the tissue: Cw= . In general, hydraulic capacitance is difficult to

measure, especially because it is not constant, but varies with the water
potential.
The mass flow associated with hydraulic signals can be divided into
two components (Malone 1996). The major one, characterized by a long
axial pathway (xylem), has a volumetric flow rate approximated by the
Hagen-Poiseuille law:

Mw/

≈ π

∆ r 4 P

J v , (23.1)

η 8 l

∆ where J v is the volumetric flow rate, r is the tube radius, P is the pressure

η gradient, is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid and l is the tube length.

Theviscosityofwaterinsidexylemvesselsvariesfromnegligiblevalues
with dilute solutes to considerably higher values when concentrated solutes,
like sugars, are present. It is important to note that J v is proportional to