Re: Radial water transport

From: "HANNO RICHTER" <hanno.richter@boku.ac.at>
Subject: Re: Radial water transport
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 16:51:40 +0100

Next Article (by Date): Re: Radial water transport MelTyree@aol.com
Previous Article (by Date): [IAWA Forum] Radial water transport Paolo Cherubini
Top of Thread: Radial water transport "Gartner, Barbara"
Next in Thread: Re: Radial water transport MelTyree@aol.com
Articles sorted by: [Date] [Author] [Subject]

Hello Barbara and all forum members,

Nice to see that such a lively debate develops!
I think we should exclude intercellular spaces from the list of 
possible radial transport pathways. They are part of a network of air-
conducting pathways which is always somewhere connected to the 
outside air. Thus, any water contained in intercellular spaces is at 
a pressure close to atmospheric and would immediately be sucked 
into the conducting xylem elements as soon as they are at a 
negative water potential (which tracheae and tracheids are most of 
the time).
I don´t know if it is truly pertinent for radial transport, but the old 
xylem film of Martin Zimmermann showed how a single conducting 
element can come into contact with lots of others by means of 
changes in the angle with the x-axis. This should certainly increase 
water exchange.

Best regards

Hanno Richter
Institute of Botany, University of Agricultural Sciences Vienna, 
A-1180 Vienna, Austria

Go to OSU College of Forestry LWGate Home Page.