The Widened Pipe Model of plant hydraulic evolution

Loren Koçillari1,2, Mark E Olson3, Samir Suweis1

  • 1Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia G. Galilei, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Università di Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.

Summary

Plants evolve xylem conduit diameters to balance water transport efficiency with construction costs and embolism risk. A new Widened Pipe Model (WPM) predicts a universal narrowing-to-widening profile from stem tips to base, confirmed by global data.

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