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Related Concept Videos

Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss01:57

Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss

Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.
Responses to Heat and Cold Stress02:45

Responses to Heat and Cold Stress

Every organism has an optimum temperature range within which healthy growth and physiological functioning can occur. At the ends of this range, there will be a minimum and maximum temperature that interrupt biological processes.
Light Acquisition02:16

Light Acquisition

In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.
Responses to Drought and Flooding02:41

Responses to Drought and Flooding

Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.
Thermal Stress01:09

Thermal Stress

If the temperature of an object is changed while it is prevented from expanding or contracting, the object is subjected to stress. The stress is compressive if the object expands in the absence of constraint and tensile if it contracts. This stress resulting from temperature change is known as thermal stress. It can be quite large and can cause damage. To avoid this stress, engineers may design components so they can expand and contract freely. For instance, on highways, gaps are deliberately...
Boundary Layer Characteristics01:18

Boundary Layer Characteristics

When a fluid encounters a solid surface, a boundary layer forms due to the interaction between the fluid's motion and the stationary surface. This phenomenon is characterized by a thin region adjacent to the surface where viscous forces dominate, influencing the fluid's velocity profile. The development of the boundary layer begins at the leading edge of the surface and evolves as the fluid moves downstream.As the fluid flows over the surface, friction between the fluid and the wall slows down...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 25, 2026

A Rapid Laser Probing Method Facilitates the Non-invasive and Contact-free Determination of Leaf Thermal Properties
08:41

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Published on: January 7, 2017

Do thick leaves avoid thermal damage in critically low wind speeds?

A Leigh1, S Sevanto2, M C Ball3

  • 1School of the Environment, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.

The New Phytologist
|February 3, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Increased leaf thickness, even by fractions of a millimeter, significantly reduces leaf overheating during low wind conditions. This finding is crucial for understanding plant survival strategies in arid environments.

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Area of Science:

  • Plant Physiology
  • Ecology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Transient lulls in air movement can cause rapid increases in leaf temperature, potentially reaching critical levels.
  • The heat capacity of thick leaves may mitigate rapid temperature changes, but the extent of this effect is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantitatively assess how increased leaf thickness reduces thermal damage during low wind speeds in desert conditions.
  • To investigate the influence of leaf thickness relative to transpiration, absorptance, and leaf size on preventing heat damage.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a numerical model to simulate leaf temperature responses.
  • Incorporated measured plant traits and thermotolerance thresholds for real leaves.
  • Analyzed the effect of variable low wind speeds characteristic of desert environments.

Main Results:

  • Even small increases in leaf thickness (fractions of a millimeter) can prevent critical temperature excursions.
  • The protective effect of leaf thickness is most pronounced when other heat-reducing mechanisms (transpiration, reflectance, reduced size) are limited.
  • Leaf thickness plays a significant role in mitigating extreme heat stress.

Conclusions:

  • Increased leaf thickness is a key factor in reducing thermal damage and heat stress in desert plants.
  • This trait may enhance long-term survival for perennial desert flora by preventing extreme heat damage.