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Stomatal sensitivity to vapour pressure deficit of temperate and tropical evergreen rainforest trees of Australia

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Abstract

Although rainforests of eastern Australia grow in regions of high precipitation, there is a shift from a summer dry season in the temperate south to a winter dry season in the tropical north. Therefore, rainforest trees of eastern Australia provide an opportunity to investigate stomatal sensitivity of mesic trees to vapour pressure deficit (VPD) along a gradient in seasonality of precipitation. Eight rainforest canopy tree species were selected to cover the latitudinal range of rainforests in eastern Australia. Seedlings of these species were grown for a year in glasshouses under ambient conditions or at low VPD and water vapour exchange of leaves was measured during summer. Tropical species, which experience summer-dominant precipitation, showed higher stomatal sensitivities to VPD than temperate species, which experience winter-dominant precipitation. Growing plants under a low VPD increased stomatal sensitivity to increasing VPD in most species. The high stomatal sensitivity to VPD of the tropical species is consistent with the infrequent water stress experienced during their growing season and suggests a high susceptibility to water deficits. In contrast, temperate species may use other mechanisms to maintain photosynthesis under the relatively drier conditions of the temperate growing season.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Jenny Read, Jacqui England and anonymous reviewers for commenting on the manuscript. Permission was given to collect seedlings by State Forests of N.S.W. and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Victoria. This research was supported by a Monash Postgraduate Research Scholarship awarded to S.C. and an Australian Research Council Large Grant awarded to Jenny Read.

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  1. Shaun C. Cunningham

    Present address: Farrer Centre, Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, 2678, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia

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  1. School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, 3800, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Shaun C. Cunningham

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Correspondence to Shaun C. Cunningham.

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Cunningham, S.C. Stomatal sensitivity to vapour pressure deficit of temperate and tropical evergreen rainforest trees of Australia. Trees 18, 399–407 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-004-0318-y

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