Stomatal conductance and stomatal behavior in Populus clones and hybrids

Abstract

Responses of abaxial, adaxial, and total leaf conductance to incident photosynthetic photon flux density, solar irradiance, and changing leaf water potential, as well as diurnal and seasonal patterns of stomatal conductances, were examined under field conditions for six Populus clones. Clones belonged to the species P. trichocarpa and to different interspecific crossings including P. deltoides, P. nigra, and P. maximowiczii. Black Cottonwood clone Columbia River showed stomatal behavior different from other clones in many aspects: (i) it was the only clone with hypostomatous leaves; (ii) its stomata remained open for a longer period of time, both diurnally and seasonally; (iii) the hysteresis effect in stomatal response to solar irradiance during the day was less pronounced; and (iv) its stomata showed hardly any response to declining leaf water potential. Leaf area duration and seasonal stomatal activity showed considerable clonal differences, which are in agreement with girth growth increment patterns. Clone Columbia River showed a much longer leaf life-span with considerable stomatal activity near late autumn, which might explain the substantial late-autumn girth growth increment of this clone.