Linking xylem structure and function: the comparative method in from the cold

Abstract

This article is a Commentary on Savage et al. (2022), 235: 953–964.

Less Pronounced Drought Responses in Ring-Porous than in Diffuse-Porous Temperate Tree Species

“…The known later flushing of ring-porous taxa (Hacke and Sperry, 2001;Olson, 2022;Savage et al, 2022) such as Quercus and Fraxinus, should not affect our conclusions, because flushing a few days later refers to the early spring period when soil moisture availability is commonly high. During this early period, the overlapping shallow portions of the root sphere and thus water extraction together with the generally lower canopy density and the higher gas-exchange rates (per unit leaf area) in these ring-porous taxa (e.g., Bader et al, 2010) are likely to compensate such differences in flushing date.…”