Long-Distance Signal Transmission in Trees - Communication in Plants: Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life - page 338

the fourth power of the capillary (xylem vessel) diameter. This means
that a slight increase in vessel diameter causes a considerable increase in
conductivity, and thus in hydraulic signal entity, when the other parameters
have constant values. The smaller component is defined by a short radial
pathway through cells at each end of the flow, which present more hydraulic
resistance than the axial pathway.
In a transpiring plant, the water status of all tissues will firstly approach
a dynamic equilibrium with their local xylem, and then with the entire
plant. In fact, a change in the flux of water at any site can be transmitted
throughout the xylem to any other site of the plant, thus affecting the
turgor pressure of living cells. Examples of local changes are, for example,
microvariations in the soil matric potential at root level or in light at leaf
level (a cloud or wind movements).
The mechanisms by which stomata could sense changes in xylem pres-
sure to adjust g remain largely hypothetical. It seems improbable that xylem
pressure itself is the triggering parameter, so a variable correlated to xylem
pressure during water stress must be identified. Cavitation is the abrupt
change from liquid water under tension to water vapour (Cochard et al.
2002). As water is withdrawn from the cavitated conduit, vapour expands
to fill the entire lumen. In a short moment of time (hours or less), air
diffuses in and the pressure rises. The vessel then becomes “embolized”
(air-blocked). The replacement of water vapour by air is the key point that
makes embolism serious since air cannot be dissolved spontaneously in wa-
ter as can water vapour. It is now clear that drought can induce cavitation
and xylem embolism. Xylem cavitation is generally seen as a potentially
catastrophic dysfunction of the axial water-conducting system (Salleo et al.
2000), but it may also act as a rapid hydraulic signal initiating the stom-
atal response, provided that it can be reversed without any major damage
to water conduction. Because the onset of cavitation events in leaf blades
was correlated with the onset of stomatal closure in Laurus ,ithasbeen
suggested that stomata were responding to hydraulic signals generated
by cavitation (Salleo et al. 2000; Nardini et al. 2001). However, in Juglans
(Cochard et al. 2002), stomatal closure occurred before the onset of cavita-
tion in leaf blades and midribs and only after 70% loss of conductance in
the trunk.
23.4
Integration of Chemical and Hydraulic Signals
Whileitisdifficulttorejectthestrongevidenceforpositive,root-sourced
signals in trees, and the likely presence of ABA as the commonest signals
fordetectingwaterstressatsoil-rootlevel,ithasalsobeenhardnotto