Browsing by Subject "xylem"

In consequence of transpiration vast amounts of water moves from tree roots to the atmosphere via stem and leaves. Water does not only move directly from roots towards canopy. It is essential element in the maintenance of cells and fuel to solute transport in phloem. Movement of water inside the tree is caused by differences in water potential between cells and tissues. Water moves towards lower pressure potential in the xylem. Pressure is the main component of water potential in the xylem. Phloem transport is also driven by hydrostatic pressure gradient. Water moves from xylem to the phloem when the water potential is lower in the phloem than xylem. Osmotic potential is the main component of phloem water potential. Osmotic potential, practically the osmotic strength, of a cell is related to the soluble sugar and water content in the phloem. Therefore, the main components of tree water potential are pressure and the osmotic strength of a cell. Phloem is the transport pathway of sugars and other important compounds many which role is yet unknown. The dynamics of water and sugar transport is still an enigma for researchers. Understanding of water and sugar transport is vital because they appear to affect other physiological functions in trees, i.e. the function of stomata and cell growth. The research of phloem is very challenging because phloem content is easily contaminated when collected. Phloem cells have several defend reaction when disturbed. Some methods are in use in phloem research but these methods can only be used in laboratory conditions or with specific tree species. Especially few research is been carried out in situ due to its damaging effect when collecting phloem samples. Promising method to assess phloem transport is to utilize diameter measurements. Modeling of phloem transport with xylem diameter data does not disturb the function of phloem. Essential missing piece of information is quantitative data of osmotic strength in the phloem. The topic of this thesis is to examine the diurnal changes of the main components of tree water potential. Emphasis is on examining the osmotic strength of phloem and the testing of new method for studying osmotic strength of phloem. The measurements are mainly carried out with scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and test evaluations are carried out with pillar black alder (Alnus glutinosa F. pyramidalis). The measurements are made with phloem pieces collected from different heights of the tree examined and with leaves from the canopy. Also the leaf water potential is measured which is related to diameter changes of the xylem. The former are compared to the osmotic strength of phloem pieces and leaves. The method used in this thesis is apparently not used in literature. The difference with methods in the literature is the freezing and thawing of phloem pieces before sampling with sentrifuge. Method brings out similar results of phloem osmotic strength found in the literature. The values might be slighlty underestimated due to the method used. According to these results the water potential of phloem are closely related to the xylem water potential with scots pine. The strongest relation with the xylem is in the phloem beneath the canopy and weakest in the phloem collected in the base of a trunk. The phloem water potential of a branch was most difficult to intepret. The osmotic strength and water content of needles were strongly related to the needle water potential. The results support the idea of a strong interaction between phloem and xylem.