Effects of foliar water uptake on embolism in excised Avicennia marina twigs

The presence and propagation of gas within the xylem conduits, embolism, is widely documented in plants. Embolism occurs in response to dehydration or freezing and thawing, yet the mechanisms that enable plants to recover from embolism remain unclear. Foliar water uptake (FWU) may provide plants with access to water that could enable embolism refilling. Building on previous research that showed that FWU could restore leaf hydraulic conductance in Avicennia marina, this study aimed to test if embolism refilling was involved in leaf hydraulic recovery. Four dehydrated twigs from Avicennia marina (with water potential c. -4 MPa) were imaged using lab-based microCT at the dehydrated state, revealing the presence of stem and leaf emboli which were attributed to dehydration and cutting. Following tap water provision to the twig surface, twigs were imaged in periods of c. 4 h to track the rehydration and refilling process. MicroCT imaging revealed a c. 80% decrease in the leaf embolised area within 29 ± 10 h of wetting. Results revealed no change in embolism diameter following FWU, indicating that capillarity was not the main mechanism for refilling. This research suggests that Avicennia marina may be able to recover from embolism by absorption of foliar water. Full details are available at Fuenzalida, T.I., Blacker, M.J., Turner, M., Sheppard, A. and Ball, M.C. (2023), Foliar water uptake enables embolism removal in excised twigs of Avicennia marina. New Phytol, 237: 1136-1145. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18613. This research was funded by the Australian Research Council through grant DP180102969: Top-down rehydration: the role of multiple water sources in maintaining hydraulic function of mangroves along gradients in salinity and aridity.
Type
collection
Title
Effects of foliar water uptake on embolism in excised Avicennia marina twigs
Brief Title
Effects of foliar water uptake on embolism in excised Avicennia marina twigs
Alternate Title
Foliar water uptake enables embolism removal in excised twigs of Avicennia marina
Collection Type
Dataset
Access Privileges
Division of Plant Science
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
10.25911/fpwh-bb80
Website Address
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1111%2Fnph.18613&file=nph18613-sup-0001-DatasetS1.xlsx
Metadata Language
English
Data Language
English
Significance Statement
Direct observation of embolism refilling in response to foliar wetting.
Brief Description
This dataset presents results from an experiment testing the effects of foliar water uptake (FWU) on excised Avicennia marina twigs. Results showed that FWU led to a c. 80% reduction in the leaf embolised area within 29 ± 10 h since wetting. Embolism refilling occurred slowly and did not affect embolus diameter, suggesting that capillarity was not the main mechanism for refilling.
Full Description
The presence and propagation of gas within the xylem conduits, embolism, is widely documented in plants. Embolism occurs in response to dehydration or freezing and thawing, yet the mechanisms that enable plants to recover from embolism remain unclear. Foliar water uptake (FWU) may provide plants with access to water that could enable embolism refilling. Building on previous research that showed that FWU could restore leaf hydraulic conductance in Avicennia marina, this study aimed to test if embolism refilling was involved in leaf hydraulic recovery. Four dehydrated twigs from Avicennia marina (with water potential c. -4 MPa) were imaged using lab-based microCT at the dehydrated state, revealing the presence of stem and leaf emboli which were attributed to dehydration and cutting. Following tap water provision to the twig surface, twigs were imaged in periods of c. 4 h to track the rehydration and refilling process. MicroCT imaging revealed a c. 80% decrease in the leaf embolised area within 29 ± 10 h of wetting. Results revealed no change in embolism diameter following FWU, indicating that capillarity was not the main mechanism for refilling. This research suggests that Avicennia marina may be able to recover from embolism by absorption of foliar water. Full details are available at Fuenzalida, T.I., Blacker, M.J., Turner, M., Sheppard, A. and Ball, M.C. (2023), Foliar water uptake enables embolism removal in excised twigs of Avicennia marina. New Phytol, 237: 1136-1145. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.18613. This research was funded by the Australian Research Council through grant DP180102969: Top-down rehydration: the role of multiple water sources in maintaining hydraulic function of mangroves along gradients in salinity and aridity.
Contact Email
tomas.fuenzalida@anu.edu.au
Contact Phone Number
+56988310359
Principal Investigator
Tomás Fuenzalida
Supervisors
Marilyn C. Ball
Collaborators
Matthew Blacker; Michael Turner; Adrian Sheppard
Fields of Research
310303 - Ecological physiology; 310806 - Plant physiology
Socio-Economic Objective
180203 - Coastal or estuarine biodiversity; 280102 - Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
Keywords
drought, embolism, refilling, microCT, foliar water uptake
Type of Research Activity
Pure basic research
Date Coverage
2022
2019
Time Period
2019
Geospatial Location
16°17020′′S, 145°24059′′E
gpx
Date of data creation
2022
Year of data publication
2025
Creator(s) for Citation
Fuenzalida
Tomás
Blacker
Matthew
Turner
Michael
Sheppard
Adrian
Ball
Marilyn
Publisher for Citation
The Australian National University Data Commons
Publications
10.1111/nph.18613
Fuenzalida, T.I., Blacker, M.J., Turner, M., Sheppard, A. and Ball, M.C. (2023), Foliar water uptake enables embolism removal in excised twigs of Avicennia marina. New Phytol, 237: 1136-1145.
Foliar water uptake enables embolism removal in excised twigs of Avicennia marina
doi
Access Rights
Open access allowed
Access Rights Type
Open
Licence Type
CC-BY-NC-ND - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDervis (Version 4.0)
Retention Period
Indefinitely
Extent or Quantity
1
Data Size
56.1 kB
Data Management Plan
No

Download data files

Number of files: 1

Size: 56.1 KB

Identifier: anudc:6226

Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National University
  • Australian National Data Service
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