Aims: Success in establishing upland forests on landforms constructed from overburden is determined by the characteristics of the reclamation soil covers and depth. We explored whether an ecosystem model that uses water potential gradients to simulate soil-plant-atmosphere water transfers can be...

Irrigation management in extensive green roofs (EGRs) is crucial in Mediterranean and semi-arid climates, as it should guarantee efficient water use while ensuring plant survival and vegetation cover. However, benefits of maintaining moderately low substrate water potential (Ψ_s) have not been...

Root water uptake induces additional soil suction by soil water extraction. However, induced soil suction restricts root water uptake when beyond a threshold (s_t) and tends to stop water uptake at a limiting suction (s_l). This process is called root-soil hydraulic interactions, whose relationship...

Abiotic stressors such as drought and heat predispose chickpea plants to pathogens of key importance leading to significant crop loss under field conditions. In this study, we have investigated the influence of drought and high temperature on the incidence and severity of dry root rot disease...

Root water uptake (RWU) strategies shape climate-vegetation feedbacks and ecosystem productivity. A fundamental relationship between RWU strategies and evolutionary histories (phylogeny) of trees, however, remains poorly understood. Establishing a phylogenetic basis for tree RWU, particularly...

Tree water use is central to plant function and ecosystem fluxes. However, it is still unknown how organ-level water-relations traits are coordinated to determine whole-tree water-use strategies in response to drought, and whether this coordination depends on climate. Here we used a global sap flow ...

Boreal peatland forests have relatively low species diversity and thus impacts of climate change on one or more dominant species could shift ecosystem function. Despite abundant soil water availability, shallowly rooted vascular plants within peatlands may not be able to meet foliar demand for...

Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations have been facing a double challenge of land degradation and seasonal drought in Southeast Asia. Various cash crops are recently interplanted with rubber trees to face these issues. However, the water relations between rubber trees and the intercrops remain...

The effects of drought stress, Phytophthora cinnamomi infection and their interaction on water relations and growth were examined for 28 days on two year-old potted trees of Eucalyptus obliqua (L'Hér.). There were significant effects of drought stress on plant photosynthesis, stomatal conductance,...

Water uptake by plant roots is important for plant physiology governing plant water use and productivity. As a common method for root water uptake, root hydraulic conductivity is widely used and defines the intrinsic ability of roots to conduct water across a water potential gradient between the...