Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Root water uptake and transport: using physiological processes in global predictions.

R B Jackson1, J S Sperry, T E Dawson

  • 1Dept of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA. jackson@duke.edu

Trends in Plant Science
|November 15, 2000
PubMed
Summary

Plant roots are the weakest link in water transport, limiting water uptake and potentially causing system failure. New research aims to predict rooting depth and water use, aiding large-scale ecological studies.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Why methane surged in the atmosphere during the early 2020s.

Science (New York, N.Y.)·2026
Same author

Trade-offs between succulent and non-succulent epiphytes underlie variation in drought tolerance and avoidance.

Oecologia·2022
Same author

Methane removal and the proportional reductions in surface temperature and ozone.

Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences·2021
Same author

A trade-off between plant and soil carbon storage under elevated CO<sub>2</sub>.

Nature·2021
Same author

Investigation of Johne's disease in Tasmanian fallow deer (Dama dama).

Australian veterinary journal·2020
Same author

Traditional plant functional groups explain variation in economic but not size-related traits across the tundra biome.

Global ecology and biogeography : a journal of macroecology·2019

Area of Science:

  • Plant physiology
  • Soil science
  • Ecology

Background:

  • Plant water loss is regulated by stomata and atmospheric demand.
  • The soil-plant continuum has a maximum water transport capacity, beyond which it fails.
  • Roots are increasingly recognized as the critical limiting factor in this hydraulic pathway.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To predict rooting depth and water uptake based on plant and soil hydraulic properties.
  • To explore how new physiological tools can advance large-scale studies.
  • To investigate hydraulic lift, water balance, and biosphere-atmosphere interactions.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing plant and soil hydraulic properties for predictive modeling.
  • Integrating molecular, biophysical, and ecological research approaches.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Developing and applying new physiological tools for large-scale assessments.

    • Main Results:

    • Identified roots as the weakest link in the plant hydraulic system.
    • Developed a framework for predicting rooting depth and water uptake.
    • Highlighted the potential of new tools for studying ecosystem-level water dynamics.

    Conclusions:

    • Root hydraulic capacity is a critical determinant of plant survival and ecosystem function.
    • Predictive models integrating hydraulic properties are essential for understanding water transport.
    • Future research should leverage new physiological tools to scale up studies of water balance and biosphere-atmosphere interactions.