Stomatal optimization & plant hydraulic regulation

Predicting plant responses during drought and heatwaves requires knowledge of the environmental drivers (e.g., soil and atmospheric conditions) as well as the physiological mechanisms that mediate how plants experience water and heat stress. We are developing theoretical models at the leaf, plant, and ecosystem-levels based on optimization theory to advance understanding of plant water use strategies and their responses during drought.

Project Sponsor: National Science Foundation CAREER program (DEB-2045610)

Team: Xue Feng (PI), Yaojie Lu (postdoc), Brandon Sloan (Ph.D. student), Aaron Potkay (postdoc)

Selected Publications

"Using sapflow to infer plant hydraulic properties" - EOS.
Lu et al. (2022). Intra‐specific variability in plant hydraulic parameters inferred from model inversion of sap flux data. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, e2021JG006777.
Feng et al. (2022). Instantaneous stomatal optimization results in suboptimal carbon gain due to legacy effects. Plant, Cell & Environment.
Sloan et al. (2021). Plant hydraulic transport controls transpiration sensitivity to soil water stress. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 25.8 (2021): 4259-4274.
Lu et al. (2020). Optimal stomatal drought response shaped by competition for water and hydraulic risk can explain plant trait covariation. New Phytologist. 225 (3), 1206-1217.