The Widened Pipe Model of plant hydraulic evolution

Author(s):Show less -

Kocillari, Loren ^{[1, 2]} ; Olson, Mark E. ^[3] ; Suweis, Samir ^[1] ; Rocha, Rodrigo P. ^[4] ; Lovison, Alberto ^[5] ; Cardin, Franco ^[5] ; Dawson, Todd E. ^{[6, 7]} ; Echeverria, Alberto ^[3] ; Fajardo, Alex ^[8] ; Lechthaler, Silvia ^[9] ; Martinez-Perez, Cecilia ^{[3, 10]} ; Marcati, Carmen Regina ^[11] ; Chung, Kuo-Fang ^[12] ; Rosell, Julieta A. ^[13] ; Segovia-Rivas, Ali ^[3] ; Williams, Cameron B. ^{[7, 14, 15, 16]} ; Petrone-Mendoza, Emilio ^[3] ; Rinaldo, Andrea ^{[17, 18]} ; Anfodillo, Tommaso ^[9] ; Banavar, Jayanth R. ^{[19, 20]} ; Maritan, Amos ^[1]

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Univ Padua, Ist Nazl Fis Nucl, Dipartimento Fis & Astron G Galilei, I-35131 Padua - Italy

^[2] Ist Italiano Tecnol, Lab Neural Computat, I-38068 Rovereto - Italy

^[3] Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Biol, Ciudad De Mexico 04510 - Mexico

^[4] Univ Fed Santa Catarina, Dept Fis, BR-88040900 Florianopolis, SC - Brazil

^[5] Univ Padua, Dipartimento Matemat Tullio Levi Civita, I-35121 Padua - Italy

^[6] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Environm Sci Policy & Management, Berkeley, CA 94720 - USA

^[7] Univ Calif Berkeley, Dept Integrat Biol, Berkeley, CA 94720 - USA

^[8] Univ Talca, Lnstituto Invest Interdisciplinario 13, Campus Lircay, Talca 3460000 - Chile

^[9] Univ Padua, Dipartimento Terr & Sistemi Agroforestali, I-35020 Legnaro - Italy

^[10] Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Ecol, Dept Ecol Evolut, Ciudad De Mexico 04510 - Mexico

^[11] Univ Estadual Paulista, Fac Ciencias Agronom, BR-18603970 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[12] Acad Sinica, Biodivers Res Ctr, Taipei 11529 - Taiwan

^[13] Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Ecol, Lab Nacl Ciencias Sostenibilidad, Ciudad De Mexico 04510 - Mexico

^[14] Channel Isl Natl Pk, Ventura, CA 93001 - USA

^[15] Santa Barbara Bot Garden, Santa Barbara, CA 93105 - USA

^[16] No Arizona Univ, Dept Biol Sci, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 - USA

^[17] Ecole Polytechinque Fed Lausanne, Lab Ecohydrol, IIE ENAC, CH-1015 Lausanne - Switzerland

^[18] Univ Padua, Dipartimento Ingn Civile Edile & Ambientale, I-35131 Padua - Italy

^[19] Univ Oregon, Inst Fundamental Sci, Eugene, OR 97403 - USA

^[20] Univ Oregon, Dept Phys, Eugene, OR 97403 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; v. 118, n. 22 JUN 1 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Shaping global water and carbon cycles, plants lift water from roots to leaves through xylem conduits. The importance of xylem water conduction makes it crucial to understand how natural selection deploys conduit diameters within and across plants. Wider conduits transport more water but are likely more vulnerable to conduction blocking gas embolisms and cost more for a plant to build, a tension necessarily shaping xylem conduit diameters along plant stems. We build on this expectation to present the Widened Pipe Model (WPM) of plant hydraulic evolution, testing it against a global dataset. The WPM predicts that xylem conduits should be narrowest at the stem tips, widening quickly before plateauing toward the stem base. This universal profile emerges from Pareto modeling of a tradeoff between just two competing vectors of natural selection: one favoring rapid widening of conduits tip to base, minimizing hydraulic resistance, and another favoring slow widening of conduits, minimizing carbon cost and embolism risk. Our data spanning terrestrial plant orders, life forms, habitats, and sizes conform closely to WPM predictions. The WPM highlights carbon economy as a powerful vector of natural selection shaping plant function. It further implies that factors that cause resistance in plant conductive systems, such as conduit pit membrane resistance, should scale in exact harmony with tip-to-base conduit widening. Furthermore, the WPM implies that alterations in the environments of individual plants should lead to changes in plant height, for example, shedding terminal branches and resprouting at lower height under drier climates, thus achieving narrower and potentially more embolism-resistant conduits. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/14778-6 - Xylem vessel taper and the hydraulic causes of plant response to climate change
• Grantee: Carmen Regina Marcati
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• FAPESP's process: 15/14954-1 - Cambial activity and structure of secondary tissues in angiosperms
• Grantee: Carmen Regina Marcati
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants