Stomatal patchiness

 

Towards a Causal Analysis of Stomatal Patchiness. The Role of Stomatal Size Variability and Hydrological Heterogeneity

by Beyschlag W.,

Eckstein J. (2001)

in Acta Oecologica, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2001, pp. 161-173. –

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1146-609X(01)01110-9

Abstract

The induction of the well known and widespread phenomenon ‘stomatal patchiness’ has been attributed to a variety of potential causes: from low PPFD levels, all kinds of stress conditions to CO₂-changes and even fungal infections.

A mechanism which explains the occurrence of reproducible patterns of static (i.e. stable) stomatal patchiness at low PPFD levels is proposed. Further, experimental evidence is presented for the hypothesis that dynamic (i.e. not stable) stomatal patchiness is a consequence of heterogeneous water status in different parts of the leaf and can be induced by all ambient factors which cause such heterogeneities.