title: Foliar water uptake of Tamarix ramosissima from an atmosphere of high humidity.
abstract: Many species have been found to be capable of foliar water uptake, but little research has focused on this in desert plants. Tamarix ramosissima was investigated to determine whether its leaves can directly absorb water from high humidity atmosphere and, if they can, to understand the magnitude and importance of foliar water uptake. Various techniques were adopted to demonstrate foliar water uptake under submergence or high atmospheric humidity. The mean increase in leaf water content after submergence was 29.38% and 20.93% for mature and tender leaves, respectively. In the chamber experiment, obvious reverse sap flow occurred when relative humidity (RH) was persistently above 90%. Reverse flow was recorded first in twigs, then in branches and stems. For the stem, the percentage of negative sap flow rate accounting for the maximum value of sap flow reached 10.71%, and its amount accounted for 7.54% of diurnal sap flow. Small rainfall can not only compensate water loss of plant by foliar uptake, but also suppress transpiration. Foliar uptake can appear in the daytime under certain rainfall events. High atmospheric humidity is beneficial for enhancing the water status of plants. Foliar uptake should be an important strategy of water acquisition for desert plants.
authors: Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China ; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors: Shuang
authors: S
authors: Li
authors: Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors: Hong-lang
authors: HL
authors: Xiao
authors: Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors: Liang
authors: L
authors: Zhao
authors: Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors: Mao-Xian
authors: MX
authors: Zhou
authors: Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors: Fang
authors: F
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D001272:Atmosphere; D006813:Humidity; D032363:Tamaricaceae / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D014867:Water