Water uptake from organ- to plant-scale
Martin Bouda, Kateřina Růžičková
The composition and placement of plant roots contributes to a plant’s ability to acquire water efficiently from the surrounding soil. We analyse root system network properties to reveal evolutionary links between seemingly unrelated plant features or biophysical links between whole-plant carbon and water budgets. For example, we have shown that extreme rooting topologies commonly adopted by monocotyledonous plants allow their root absorbing surfaces to operate at stronger water tensions, increasing their hydraulic efficiency despite their inability to construct more water-conductive tissues. Current work quantifies the organ- and plant-scale links between water uptake efficiency and carbon cost, to explore the basis of larger-scale couplings between the carbon and water cycles.
Publications:
Bouda M, Brodersen C, & Saiers J (2018) Whole root system water conductance responds to both axial and radial traits and network topology over natural range of trait variation. Journal of theoretical biology 456:49-61; doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.07.033.