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Updated: Oct 14, 2026

Relating Stomatal Conductance to Leaf Functional Traits
Published on: October 12, 2015
Hydraulic, Gas-Exchange and Leaf-Trait Variation Across Hydrologically Contrasting Sites and Tree Sizes in Populus
Shubin Zhang1,2,3, Xiaodong Yang1,4, Zhoukang Li5
1College of Ecology and Environment, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, China.
Abstract:
Plant water status, hydraulic transport and carbon exchange can respond differently across natural hydrologic contrasts. We measured hydraulic, gas-exchange, carbon, morphological and anatomical traits in 33 Populus euphratica trees distributed across four fixed sites (D1-D4) and three tree-size classes. Site and size associations were evaluated with additive models, heteroskedasticity-consistent inference, false-discovery-rate control and a balanced D1-D3 sensitivity analysis. Midday leaf water potential became progressively more negative from D1 to D4, whereas branch xylem hydraulic conductivity was higher at D3-D4. The correlated instantaneous responses of assimilation (A), stomatal conductance (gs), and transpiration (E) peaked at D3 and declined at D4. Within the balanced D1-D3 subset, site effects for midday water potential, hydraulic conductivity and the A-gs-E response group remained supported. Larger trees had lower specific leaf area, soluble sugar and total non-structural carbohydrates, but higher leaf water content and palisade tissue thickness; starch showed a consistent site association. After adjustment for site and size, no anatomy-function association based on total palisade tissue thickness (PT) or epidermis thickness (Epi) retained false-discovery-rate support. Hydrologic context and tree size were associated with partly distinct functional dimensions, indicating multidimensional and context-dependent intraspecific variation in P. euphratica.
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