Stomatal design principles in synthetic and real leaves.
Stomata are portals in plant leaves that control gas exchange for photosynthesis, a process fundamental to life on Earth. Gas fluxes and plant productivity depend on external factors such as light, water and CO2availability and on the geometrical properties of the stoma pores. The link between stoma geometry and environmental factors has informed a wide range of scientific fields-from agriculture to climate science, where observed variations in stoma size and density are used to infer prehistoric atmospheric CO2content. However, the physical mechanisms and design principles responsible for major trends in stomatal patterning are not well understood. Here, we use a combination of biomimetic experiments and theory to rationalize the observed changes in stoma geometry. We show that the observed correlations between stoma size and density are consistent with the hypothesis that plants favour efficient use of space and maximum control of dynamic gas conductivity, and that the capacity for gas exchange in plants has remained constant over at least the last 325 Myr. Our analysis provides a new measure to gauge the relative performance of species based on their stomatal characteristics.
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Maciej A
MA
Zwieniecki
Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
Katrine S
KS
Haaning
Department of Geological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
C Kevin
CK
Boyce
Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark khjensen@fysik.dtu.dk.
Kaare H
0000-0003-0787-5283
KH
Jensen
D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D054046:Plant Stomata / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism*
D014867:Water; D002245:Carbon Dioxide
biomimetics; gas exchange; plant; stomata