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Plant Physiol, January 2003, Vol. 131, pp. 41-48
Pit Membrane Porosity and Water Stress-Induced Cavitation in Four
Co-Existing Dry Rainforest Tree Species
Brendan
Choat,1*
Marilyn
Ball,
Jon
Luly, and
Joseph
Holtum
Department of Tropical Plant Science (B.C., J.H.) and Department of
Tropical Environmental Studies and Geography (J.L.), James Cook
University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia, 4811; and Research
School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University,
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia, 2601 (B.C.,
M.B.)
Aspects of xylem anatomy and vulnerability to water
stress-induced embolism were examined in stems of two drought-deciduous species, Brachychiton australis (Schott and Endl.) A. Terracc. and Cochlospermum gillivraei Benth., and two
evergreen species, Alphitonia excelsa (Fenzal) Benth.
and Austromyrtus bidwillii (Benth.) Burret., growing in
a seasonally dry rainforest. The deciduous species were more vulnerable
to water stress-induced xylem embolism. B. australis and
C. gillivraei reached a 50% loss of hydraulic
conductivity at  3.17 MPa and 1.44 MPa, respectively; a 50% loss of
hydraulic conductivity occurred at 5.56 MPa in A.
excelsa and 5.12 MPa in A. bidwillii. To
determine whether pit membrane porosity was responsible for greater
vulnerability to embolism (air seeding hypothesis), pit membrane
structure was examined. Expected pore sizes were calculated from
vulnerability curves; however, the predicted inter-specific variation
in pore sizes was not detected using scanning electron microscopy
(pores were not visible to a resolution of 20 nm). Suspensions of
colloidal gold particles were then perfused through branch sections.
These experiments indicated that pit membrane pores were between 5 and 20 nm in diameter in all four species. The results may be explained by
three possibilities: (a) the pores of the expected size range were not
present, (b) larger pores, within the size range to cause air seeding,
were present but were rare enough to avoid detection, or (c) pore sizes
in the expected range only develop while the membrane is under
mechanical stress (during air seeding) due to stretching/flexing.
1
Present address: Department of Organismic and
Evolutionary Biology, Biological Laboratories, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.
*
Corresponding author; e-mail bchoat{at}oeb.harvard.edu; fax
617-496-5854.
© 2003 American Society of Plant Biologists
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