Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Integrative Xylem Analysis of Chaparral Shrubs

  • Chapter
Functional and Ecological Xylem Anatomy

Abstract

Chaparral shrub communities have been model systems for ecophysiological studies for more than 40 years, including examination of xylem in a range of contexts from mechanistic studies to ecological and evolutionary analyses. One of the advantages to studying chaparral shrubs is their clear environmental context, which places strong selection on xylem traits to tolerate drought and freeze/thaw stress. This chapter briefly reviews some of the main themes of studies that have sought to understand how xylem traits are adaptive in a Mediterranean-type climate. Chaparral species have been the focus of several important ecological xylem anatomy studies by Sherwin Carlquist and he has established clear links between certain anatomical traits and xylem safety, particularly as safety relates to the type of imperforate tracheary element in the background tissue of the xylem. In this chapter, some of these ideas were tested using a database of xylem safety and efficiency measures from 47 chaparral species. Carlquist’s ideas are evaluated and discussed in the context of current models of the factors that control the trade-off between xylem safety and efficiency.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ackerly DD (2004a) Adaptation, niche conservatism, and convergence: comparative studies of leaf evolution in the California chaparral. Am Nat 163:654–671

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ackerly DD (2004b) Functional strategies of chaparral shrubs in relation to seasonal water deficit and disturbance. Ecol Monogr 74:25–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ackerly DD (2009) Evolution, origin and age of lineages in the Californian and Mediterranean floras. J Biogeogr 36:1221–1233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderegg WRL, Meinzer FC (2015) Wood anatomy and plant hydraulics in a changing climate. In: Hacke UG (ed) Functional and ecological xylem anatomy. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Axelrod DI (1983) Biogeography of oaks in the Arcto-Tertiary province. Ann Mo Bot Gard 70:629–657

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhaskar R, Valiente‐Banuet A, Ackerly DD (2007) Evolution of hydraulic traits in closely related species pairs from mediterranean and nonmediterranean environments of North America. New Phytol 176:718–726

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carlquist S (1984) Vessel grouping in dicotyledon wood: significance and relationship to imperforate tracheary elements. Aliso 10:505–525

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlquist S (1989) Adaptive wood anatomy of chaparral shrubs. In: Keeley SC (ed) The California chaparral: paradigms reexamined. Science series no. 34. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, pp 25–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlquist S (2001) Comparative wood anatomy: systematic, ecological, and evolutionary aspects of dicotyledon wood. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Carlquist S (2009) Non-random vessel distribution in woods: patterns, modes, diversity, correlations. Aliso 27:39–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlquist S, Hoekman DA (1985) Ecological wood anatomy of the woody southern California flora. Int Assoc Wood Anat Bull 6:319–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Christman MA, Sperry JS, Adler FR (2009) Testing the ‘rare pit’ hypothesis for xylem cavitation resistance in three species of Acer. New Phytol 182:664–674

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cornwell WK, Ackerly DD (2009) Community assembly and shifts in plant trait distributions across an environmental gradient in coastal California. Ecol Monogr 79:109–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cowling RM, Ojeda F, Lamont B, Rundel PW, Lechmere-Oertel R (2005) Rainfall reliability, a neglected factor in explaining convergence and divergence of plant traits in fire-prone mediterranean-climate ecosystems. Glob Ecol Biogeogr 14:509–519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis SD, Mooney HA (1985) Comparative water relations of adjacent California shrub and grassland communities. Oecologia 66:522–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis SD, Ewers FW, Wood J, Reeves JJ, Kolb KJ (1999a) Differential susceptibility to xylem cavitation among three pairs of Ceanothus species in the Transverse Mountain Ranges of southern California. Ecoscience 6:180–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis SD, Sperry JS, Hacke UG (1999b) The relationship between xylem conduit diameter and cavitation caused by freezing. Am J Bot 86:1367–1372

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davis SD, Ewers FW, Sperry JS, Portwood KA, Crocker MC, Adams GC (2002) Shoot dieback during prolonged drought in Ceanothus (Rhamnaceae) chaparral of California: a possible case of hydraulic failure. Am J Bot 89:820–828

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davis SD, Ewers FW, Pratt RB, Brown PL, Bowen TJ (2005) Interactive effects of freezing and drought on long distance transport: a case study of chaparral shrubs of California. Vascular transport in plants. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 425–435

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis SD, Helms AM, Heffner MS, Shaver AR, Deroulet AC, Stasiak NL, Vaughn SM, Leake CB, Lee HD, Sayegh ET (2007) Chaparral zonation in the Santa Monica Mountains: the influence of freezing temperatures. Fremontia 35:12–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Ewers FW, Lawson MC, Bowen TJ, Davis SD (2003) Freeze/thaw stress in Ceanothus of southern California chaparral. Oecologia 136:213–219

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ewers FW, Ewers JM, Jacobsen AL, López-Portillo J (2007) Vessel redundancy: modeling safety in numbers. IAWA J 28:373–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Field CB, Davis SD (1989) Physiological ecology. In: Keeley SC (ed) The California chaparral: paradigms reexamined. Science series no. 34. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, pp 154–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Field C, Mooney HA (1986) The photosynthesis—nitrogen relationship in wild plants. In: Givnish TJ (ed) On the economy of plant form and function. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 25–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Frazer JM, Davis SD (1988) Differential survival of chaparral seedlings during the first summer drought after wildfire. Oecologia 76:215–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hacke UG, Jansen S (2009) Embolism resistance of three boreal conifer species varies with pit structure. New Phytol 182:675–686

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hacke U, Sperry J (2003) Limits to xylem refilling under negative pressure in Laurus nobilis and Acer negundo. Plant Cell Environ 26:303–311

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hacke UG, Sperry JS, Pockman WT, Davis SD, McCulloh KA (2001) Trends in wood density and structure are linked to prevention of xylem implosion by negative pressure. Oecologia 126:457–461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hacke U, Jacobsen A, Pratt R (2009) Xylem function of arid‐land shrubs from California, USA: an ecological and evolutionary analysis. Plant Cell Environ 32:1324–1333

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hargrave KR, Kolb KJ, Ewers FW, Davis SD (1994) Conduit diameter and drought-induced embolism in Salvia mellifera Greene (Labiatae). New Phytol 126:695–705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison AT, Small E, Mooney HA (1971) Drought relationships and distribution of two Mediterranean-climate California plant communities. Ecology 52:869–875

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hellmers H, Horton JS, Juhren G, O’Keefe J (1955) Root systems of some chaparral plants in southern California. Ecology 36:667–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horton JS, Kraebel CJ (1955) Development of vegetation after fire in the chamise chaparral of southern California. Ecology 36:244–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen AL, Pratt RB (2013) Vulnerability to cavitation of central California Arctostaphylos (Ericaceae): a new analysis. Oecologia 171:329–334

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen AL, Pratt RB, Davis SD, Tobin MF (2014) Geographic and seasonal variation in chaparral vulnerability to cavitation. Madroño 61:317–327

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen AL, Ewers FW, Pratt RB, Paddock WA, Davis SD (2005) Do xylem fibers affect vessel cavitation resistance? Plant Physiol 139:546–556

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen AL, Pratt RB, Davis SD, Ewers FW (2007a) Cavitation resistance and seasonal hydraulics differ among three arid California plant communities. Plant Cell Environ 30:1599–1609

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen AL, Pratt RB, Ewers FW, Davis SD (2007b) Cavitation resistance among twenty-six chaparral species of southern California. Ecol Monogr 77:99–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen AL, Esler KJ, Pratt RB, Ewers FW (2009) Water stress tolerance of shrubs in Mediterranean-type climate regions: Convergence of fynbos and succulent karoo communities with California shrub communities. Am J Bot 96:1445–1453

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jansen S, Choat B, Pletsers A (2009) Morphological variation of intervessel pit membranes and implications to xylem function in angiosperms. Am J Bot 96:409–419

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jarbeau JA, Ewers FW, Davis SD (1995) The mechanism of water-stress-induced embolism in two species of chaparral shrubs. Plant Cell Environ 18:189–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keeley JE, Bond WJ, Bradstock RA, Pausas JG, Rundel PW (2012) Fire in Mediterranean ecosystems: ecology, evolution and management. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolb KJ, Davis SD (1994) Drought tolerance and xylem embolism in co-occurring species of coastal sage and chaparral. Ecology 75:648–659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langan SJ, Ewers FW, Davis SD (1997) Xylem dysfunction caused by water stress and freezing in two species of co-occurring chaparral shrubs. Plant Cell Environ 20:425–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lens F, Sperry JS, Christman MA, Choat B, Rabaey D, Jansen S (2011) Testing hypotheses that link wood anatomy to cavitation resistance and hydraulic conductivity in the genus Acer. New Phytol 190:709–723

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lloret F, Siscart D, Dalmases C (2004) Canopy recovery after drought dieback in holm-oak Mediterranean forests of Catalonia (NE Spain). Glob Chang Biol 10:2092–2099

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loepfe L, Martinez-Vilalta J, Pinol J, Mencuccini M (2007) The relevance of xylem network structure for plant hydraulic efficiency and safety. J Theor Biol 247:788–803

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Manos PS, Stanford AM (2001) The historical biogeography of Fagaceae: tracking the tertiary history of temperate and subtropical forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Int J Plant Sci 162:S77–S93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martínez-Vilalta J, Mencuccini M, Álvarez X, Camacho J, Loepfe L, Piñol J (2012) Spatial distribution and packing of xylem conduits. Am J Bot 99:1189–1196

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Martin-StPaul N, Longepierre D, Huc R, Delzon S, Burlett R, Joffre R, Rambal S, Cochard H (2014) How reliable are methods to assess xylem vulnerability to cavitation? The issue of ‘open vessel’ artifact in oaks. Tree Physiol 34(8):787–791. doi:10.1093/treephys/tpu1059

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller PC (ed) (1981) Resource use by chaparral and matorral. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller PC, Poole DK (1979) Patterns of water use by shrubs in southern California. For Sci 25:84–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Mooney HA, Dunn EL (1970) Convergent evolution of Mediterranean climate evergreen sclerophyll shrubs. Evolution 24:292–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrow PA, Mooney HA (1974) Drought adaptations in two Californian evergreen sclerophylls. Oecologia 15:205–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oechel WC (1988) Minimum non-lethal water potentials in Mediterranean shrub seedlings. Time scales and water stress. In: di Castri F, Floret C, Rambal S, Roy J (eds) Proceedings of the 5th international conference on Mediterranean ecosystems (MEDECOS V). International Union of Biological Sciences, Paris, pp 125–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Paddock WAS, Davis SD, Pratt RB, Jacobsen AL, Tobin MF, Lopez-Portillo J, Ewers FW (2013) Factors determining mortality of adult chaparral shrubs in an extreme drought year in California. Aliso 31:49–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, VT, Pratt RB, Keeley JE (in press) Chaparral. In: Mooney H, Zavaleta E (eds) Terrestrial ecosystems of California. University of California Press, Oakland

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons DJ, Rundel PW, Hedlund R, Baker GA (1981) Survival of severe drought by a non-sprouting chaparral shrub. Am J Bot 68:973–979

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peñuelas J, Lloret F, Montoya R (2001) Severe drought effects on Mediterranean woody flora in Spain. For Sci 47:214–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Pittermann J, Sperry JS (2003) Tracheid diameter is the key trait determining the extent of freezing-induced embolism in conifers. Tree Physiol 23:907–914

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pittermann J, Sperry JS (2006) Analysis of freeze-thaw embolism in conifers. The interaction between cavitation pressure and tracheid size. Plant Physiol 140:374–382

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plavcová L, Jansen S, Klepsch M, Hacke UG (2013) Nobody’s perfect: can irregularities in pit structure influence vulnerability to cavitation? Front Plant Sci 4:453

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Poole DK, Miller PC (1975) Water relations of selected species of chaparral and coastal sage communities. Ecology 56:1118–1128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poorter L (2007) Are species adapted to their regeneration niche, adult niche, or both? Am Nat 169:433–432

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt RB, Ewers FW, Lawson MC, Jacobsen AL, Brediger MM, Davis SD (2005) Mechanisms for tolerating freeze-thaw stress of two evergreen chaparral species: Rhus ovata and Malosma laurina (Anacardiaceae). Am J Bot 92:1102–1113

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt RB, Jacobsen AL, Ewers FW, Davis SD (2007a) Relationships among xylem transport, biomechanics and storage in stem and roots of nine Rhamnaceae species of the California chaparral. New Phytol 174:787–798

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt RB, Jacobsen AL, Golgotiu KA, Sperry JS, Ewers FW, Davis SD (2007b) Life history type and water stress tolerance in nine California chaparral species (Rhamnaceae). Ecol Monogr 77:239–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt RB, Jacobsen AL, Mohla R, Ewers FW, Davis SD (2008) Linkage between water stress tolerance and life history type in seedlings of nine chaparral species (Rhamnaceae). J Ecol 96:1252–1265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt RB, North GB, Jacobsen AL, Ewers FW, Davis SD (2010) Xylem root and shoot hydraulics is linked to life history type in chaparral seedlings. Funct Ecol 24:70–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt RB, Jacobsen AL, Hernandez J, Ewers FW, North GB, Davis SD (2012a) Allocation tradeoffs among chaparral shrub seedlings with different life history types (Rhamnaceae). Am J Bot 99:1464–1476

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt RB, Jacobsen AL, Jacobs SM, Esler KJ (2012b) Xylem transport safety and efficiency differ among fynbos shrub life history types and between two sites differing in mean rainfall. Int J Plant Sci 173:474–483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pratt RB, Jacobsen AL, Ramirez AR, Helms AM, Traugh CA, Tobin MF, Heffner MS, Davis SD (2014) Mortality of resprouting chaparral shrubs after a fire and during a record drought: physiological mechanisms and demographic consequences. Glob Chang Biol 20:893–907

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ramirez A, Pratt R, Jacobsen A, Davis S (2012) Exotic deer diminish post-fire resilience of native shrub communities on Santa Catalina Island, southern California. Plant Ecol 213:1037–1047

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosell JA, Olson ME, Aguirre‐Hernández R, Carlquist S (2007) Logistic regression in comparative wood anatomy: tracheid types, wood anatomical terminology, and new inferences from the Carlquist and Hoekman southern Californian data set. Bot J Linn Soc 154:331–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sano Y, Jansen S (2006) Perforated pit membranes in imperforate tracheary elements of some angiosperms. Ann Bot 97:1045–1053

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schenk HJ, Espino S, Goedhart CM, Nordenstahl M, Cabrera HIM, Jones CS (2008) Hydraulic integration and shrub growth form linked across continental aridity gradients. Proc Natl Acad Sci 105:11248–11253

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas C, Davis S (1989) Recovery patterns of three chaparral shrub species after wildfire. Oecologia 80:309–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tobin MF, Pratt RB, Jacobsen AL, De Guzman ME (2013) Xylem vulnerability to cavitation can be accurately characterised in species with long vessels using a centrifuge method. Plant Biol 15:496–504

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tyree MT, Ewers FW (1991) The hydraulic architecture of trees and other woody plants. New Phytol 119:345–360

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Utsumi Y, Bobich EG, Ewers FW (2010) Photosynthetic, hydraulic and biomechanical responses of Juglans californica shoots to wildfire. Oecologia 164(2):331–338

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vasey MC, Loik ME, Parker VT (2012) Influence of summer marine fog and low cloud stratus on water relations of evergreen woody shrubs (Arctostaphylos: Ericaceae) in the chaparral of central California. Oecologia 170(2):325–337

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vilagrosa A, Bellot J, Vallejo VR, Gil-Pelegrín E (2003) Cavitation, stomatal conductance, and leaf dieback in seedlings of two co-occurring Mediterranean shrubs during an intense drought. J Exp Bot 54:2015–2024

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner KR, Ewers FW, Davis SD (1998) Tradeoffs between hydraulic efficiency and mechanical strength in the stems of four co-occurring species of chaparral shrubs. Oecologia 117:53–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler E, Thomas R (1981) Ultrastructural characteristics of mature wood of southern red oak (Quercus falcata Michx.) and white oak (Quercus alba L.). Wood Fiber Sci 13:169–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler JK, Sperry JS, Hacke UG, Hoang N (2005) Inter-vessel pitting and cavitation in woody Rosaceae and other vesselled plants: a basis for a safety versus efficiency trade-off in xylem transport. Plant Cell Environ 28:800–812

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams JE, Davis SD, Portwood KA (1997) Xylem embolism in seedlings and resprouts of Adenostoma fasciculatum after fire. Aust J Bot 45:291–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Stephen Davis, Michael Tobin, and Uwe Hacke are gratefully acknowledged for the data they collected that were used in this chapter. The author gratefully acknowledges NSF funding (IOS-0845125) and funding from The Andrew Mellon Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, California State University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield, CA, 93311, USA

    R. Brandon Pratt, Marta I. Percolla & Anna L. Jacobsen

Authors
  1. R. Brandon Pratt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Marta I. Percolla
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Anna L. Jacobsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Brandon Pratt .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Uwe Hacke

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Pratt, R.B., Percolla, M.I., Jacobsen, A.L. (2015). Integrative Xylem Analysis of Chaparral Shrubs. In: Hacke, U. (eds) Functional and Ecological Xylem Anatomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15783-2_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation