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Stomatal innovation and the rise of seed plants
Citation
McAdam, SAM and Brodribb, TJ, Stomatal innovation and the rise of seed plants, Ecology Letters, 15, (1) pp. 1-8. ISSN 1461-023X (2012) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS
DOI: doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01700.x
Abstract
Stomatal valves on the leaves of vascular plants not only prevent desiccation but also dynamically regulate water
loss to maintain efficient daytime water use. This latter process involves sophisticated active control of stomatal
aperture that may be absent from early-branching plant clades. To test this hypothesis, we compare the
stomatal response to light intensity in 13 species of ferns and lycophytes with a diverse sample of seed plants to
determine whether the capacity to optimise water use is an ancestral or derived feature of stomatal physiology.
We found that in seed plants, the ratio of photosynthesis to water use remained high and constant at different
light intensities, but fern and lycophyte stomata were incapable of sustaining homeostatic water use efficiency.
We conclude that efficient water use in early seed plants provided them with a competitive advantage that
contributed to the decline of fern and lycophyte dominated-ecosystems in the late Paleozoic.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | stomata evolution |
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Plant biology |
Research Field: | Plant physiology |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences |
UTAS Author: | McAdam, SAM (Dr Scott McAdam) |
UTAS Author: | Brodribb, TJ (Professor Tim Brodribb) |
ID Code: | 82459 |
Year Published: | 2012 |
Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (FT100100237) |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 115 |
Deposited By: | Plant Science |
Deposited On: | 2013-02-04 |
Last Modified: | 2013-05-15 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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