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@ARTICLE{Westhoff:58851,
author = {Westhoff, M. and Zimmermann, D. and Schneider, H. and
Wegner, L.H. and Geßner, P. and Jakob, P. and Bamberg, E.
and Shirley, St. and Bentrup, F.-W. and Zimmermann, U.},
title = {{E}vidence for discontinuous water columns in the xylem
conduit of tall birch trees},
journal = {Plant biology},
volume = {11},
issn = {1435-8603},
address = {Oxford [u.a.] :Wiley- Blackwell},
publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell - STM},
reportid = {PreJuSER-58851},
pages = {307 - 327},
year = {2009},
note = {The authors are extremely grateful to the second mayor of
the town of Rimpar, U. Haase and to the forester W.
Pospichal for giving permission to fell a large number of
tall birches in the forest of Rimpar. We would also like to
thank very much our tree climbers P. Berecry and G.
Fleischmann for professional tree felling, sample collection
and rope-assisted lowering of the trees. Special thanks go
to our numerous helpers in the field: W. Bauer, M.
Behringer, A. Biegner, J. Endter, A. Gessner, F. Groeber, B.
Hofmann, M. Kiesel, M. Kullik, C. Low, K. Muller, S. Nieft,
L. Plie ss, K. Pfeffer, R. Reuss, M. Tarantola and G.
Zimmermann. Sincere thanks are also given to K. Schwuchow
and S. Nieft for excellent performance of some of the
microscopic investigations and to A. Liebrich, O. Reichert
and N. Spindler for their great help in evaluating the
enormous bulk of data. This work was supported by grants
from the BMBF to E.B. and U.Z. (0313369B).},
abstract = {The continuity of the xylem water columns was studied on
17- to 23-m tall birch trees (trunk diameter about 23 cm;
first branching above 10 m) all year round. Fifty-one trees
were felled, and 5-cm thick slices or 2-m long boles were
taken at regular, relatively short intervals over the entire
height of the trees. The filling status of the vessels was
determined by (i) xylem sap extraction from trunk and branch
pieces (using the gas bubble-based jet-discharge method and
centrifugation) and from trunk boles (using gravity
discharge); (ii) (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of
slice pieces; (iii) infusion experiments (dye, (86)Rb(+),
D(2)O) on intact trees and cut branches; and (iv) xylem
pressure measurements. This broad array of techniques
disclosed no evidence for continuous water-filled columns,
as postulated by the Cohesion-Tension theory, for root to
apex directed mass transport. Except in early spring (during
the xylem refilling phase) and after extremely heavy
rainfall during the vegetation period, cohesive/mobile water
was found predominantly at intermediate heights of the
trunks but not at the base or towards the top of the tree.
Similar results were obtained for branches. Furthermore,
upper branches generally contained more cohesive/mobile
water than lower branches. The results suggest that water
lifting occurs by short-distance (capillary, osmotic and/or
transpiration-bound) tension gradients as well as by
mobilisation of water in the parenchymatic tissues and the
heartwood, and by moisture uptake through lenticels.},
keywords = {Betula: physiology / Biological Transport: physiology /
Plant Roots: physiology / Plant Stems: physiology / Plant
Transpiration: physiology / Trees: physiology / Water:
physiology / Xylem: physiology / Water (NLM Chemicals) / J
(WoSType)},
cin = {ICG-3},
ddc = {580},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)ICG-3-20090406},
pnm = {Terrestrische Umwelt},
pid = {G:(DE-Juel1)FUEK407},
shelfmark = {Plant Sciences},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:19470103},
UT = {WOS:000265015300006},
doi = {10.1111/j.1438-8677.2008.00124.x},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/58851},
}