Despite being one of the most well-studied trees on the planet, their mysteries continue to surprise and delight scientists and nature lovers.
Scientists from the University of California, Davis discovered that the leaves on the trees have different jobs. The leaves allow the tallest trees in the world to thrive in both wet and dry parts of their range in California without sacrificing water or food.
There is a division of labor.
The peripheral leaf makes the tree's food by converting sunlight into sugar. The leaf does nothing to help with photosynthesis. Its specialty is to absorb water. The study found that a large redwood can absorb up to 14 gallons of water in the first hour.
How does that compare to other trees? Scientists don't know. This is the first study to estimate whole-crown water absorption in a mature tree. The absorption record may be hard to beat because of the large amount of leaves.
Films of water covering leaf stomata can affect photosynthesis in wet forests. The different leaf types allow the trees to get wet and still be able to photosynthesize. The peripheral leaves have a coating on them that slows the absorption of water.
The lead author of the study said she would be surprised if there weren't a lot of conifers doing this. If you are a tree, you don't want a leaf that isn't photosynthesizing unless there is a good reason for it.
There are trading spaces.
The leaves can shift their office space along the tree if the environment is wet or dry.
In the wet, rainy north coast, the water-absorbing leaf type is found on the tree's lower branches. The water-collectors live among the tree's higher levels to take advantage of fog and rain, which occur less often in the drier environment.
To arrive at their findings, the authors collected shoot clusters from six redwood trees at five forest locations stretching from wet Del Norte County to the dry Santa Cruz Mountains and exposed them to experimental fog. They took samples at different heights and estimated the water absorption potential for seven additional trees.
The peripheral and axial leaves were compared to understand their function. They were able to determine the leaf traits that regulate absorption rates by using a physics-based model.
Chin is excited to have found 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 The visible waxes covering the two types of leaves can be seen on a cell phone camera, which can be used to monitor how and if redwoods are adapting to climate conditions and a future, drier world.
The species is superlative.
They are among the planet's biggest, tallest, oldest trees and are renowned for their resilience in the face of many natural threats. They have bark and leaves that are resistant to pests. Their ability to respond to environmental conditions, like water stress, is another example.
Chin, who grew up near the redwoods in Mendocino County, said that the ability to thrive under all these circumstances is cool.
The study co-authors include Paula Guzman-Delgado, Jessica Orozco, Zane Moore and senior author Maciej Zwieniecki of the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.
The story was told
The materials were provided by the University of California. The original was written by Kerlin. Content can be edited for style and length.
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