Objective
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.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine angiology vascular diseases
- medical and health sciences basic medicine physiology
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy confocal microscopy
- natural sciences earth and related environmental sciences atmospheric sciences climatology climatic changes
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries forestry
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
FP6-2005-MOBILITY-6
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
OIF - Marie Curie actions-Outgoing International Fellowships
Coordinator
TERVUREN
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.