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Cellular and extra-cellular pathways for sap flow: their anatomy and physiological significance

Obiettivo

Better understanding of plant-water relations is essential for appropriate management of forest and agricultural ecosystems in the face of global climate change. In spite of water's importance, there are surprising gaps in our knowledge of how water moves in trees. Moreover, the variation in wood tissue design of different taxa and habitats is enormous.

This research will further our knowledge of wood structure and water-transport physiology in stems of woody plants, showing the actual anatomical pathways through which water moves.

New information has cast doubt on the old paradigm that water ascends directly from one vessel to another; this view ignores the contribution of other cells and structures and that water must move radially in spite of no known apoplastic pathways in the radial direction, that ¼ of all vessels are gas-filled (rather than water saturated), and that vessels form networks some of which are interconnected, and others which are separated.

Both the microcasting method (production of casts of the wood voids) and confocal microscopy allow three-dimensional visualization of cell structure, vessel networks, and the spaces between cells (features not or little seen before).

These techniques will be combined with ecophysiological experiments on sap flow, stain movement, and vulnerability to embolism to help develop a new understanding of water transport. The work will be done in plants with contrasting ecological and wood structural patterns, and in taxa with wide geographic distribution, to further our abilities to infer function.

This combination of modern techniques from the fields of anatomy and ecophysiology will help elucidate the structure, the functional significance, and the ecological adaptation of different patterns of hydraulic architecture of woody plant stems.

Campo scientifico (EuroSciVoc)

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Argomento(i)

Invito a presentare proposte

FP6-2005-MOBILITY-6
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Meccanismo di finanziamento

OIF - Marie Curie actions-Outgoing International Fellowships

Coordinatore

KONINKLIJK MUSEUM VOOR MIDDEN-AFRIKA - MUSEE ROYAL DE L'AFRIQUE CENTRALE
Contributo UE
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