Canopy stomatal conductance and xylem sap abscisic acid (ABA) in mature Scots pine during a gradually imposed drought

Abstract

We investigated the effect of drought on canopy stomatal conductance (gc), and examined the hypothesis that gc is controlled by the chemical messenger abscisic acid (ABA) produced in roots. Beginning in November 1994, we subjected a mature stand of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) to an imposed 11-month drought. Control plots were maintained at average-season soil water content. Xylem sap was extracted from shoots at regular intervals from April to November 1995. Soil water, sap flow and leaf water potentials (predawn to dusk) were recorded at the same time. Canopy stomatal conductance was calculated from sap flow data and xylem sap ABA concentrations ([ABAxyl]) were measured by radioimmunoassay. Mean [ABAxyl] in control trees was 250 μmol m-3. No diurnal variation in [ABAxyl] was detected. With soil drying, [ABAxyl] increased to a maximum in summer (600 μmol m-3), but decreased again toward autumn; however, no significant increase in ABA flux to the leaves occurred. A decline in ge was detected when volumetric soil water content declined below 0.12. The decline in gc could not have been mediated by increasing [ABAxyl] because stomatal closure appeared to precede any increase in [ABAxyl]. Peak sap flow velocity data were used to estimate delivery times for root-to-shoot signals in 15-m tall trees. Under normal field conditions, a signal would take 12 days to travel from the site of production (roots) to the presumed site of action (shoots). However, under drought conditions it may take a chemical signal in excess of 6 weeks. We conclude that a feedforward model of short-term stomatal response to soil drying, based solely on the action of a chemical messenger from the roots, is not applicable in mature conifer trees because signal transmission is too slow.