Soil nitrogen limitation does not impact nighttime water loss in Populus

Nighttime transpirational water loss from C(3) trees occurs without carbon gain and is both common and substantial. However, the magnitude of this water loss varies and a better understanding of the environmental factors driving this variation is needed. We investigated the response of nighttime conductance (g(night)) and transpiration (E(night)) to soil nitrogen limitation. We used instantaneous gas exchange measurements in greenhouse studies of Populus angustifolia James (narrowleaf cottonwood) and Populus balsamifera L. spp. trichocarpa (Torr. & A. Gray ex Hook.) Brayshaw (black cottonwood). g(night) for sufficiently watered plants ranged from 0.045 to 0.308 mol m(-2) s(-1) for P. balsamifera and 0.037 to 0.188 mol m(-2) s(-1) for P. angustifolia, which was much larger than minimum leaf conductance (g(min); up to 0.005 mol m(-2) s(-1) in the dark). Long-term nitrogen limitation sufficient to substantially reduce biomass did not affect g(night) or E(night) when potentially confounding water stress effects were eliminated. We conclude that nighttime water loss from two Populus species is large and although it is under stomatal control is not regulated at night in response to soil nitrogen availability.