Roles of lower-side leaf trichomes in diffusion resistance and gas-exchange characteristics across environmental gradients in Metrosideros polymorpha

Abstract

Leaf trichomes on the lower leaf surface are common in many plant species, especially those grown under dry and/or low-temperature conditions; however, their adaptive significance remains unclear. Lower-side leaf trichomes can directly decrease gas fluxes through increased gas-diffusion resistance but can indirectly increase gas fluxes through increased leaf temperature owing to increased heat-diffusion resistance. We examined whether the combined direct and indirect effects of trichome resistance increase photosynthetic rates and water-use efficiency (WUE) using Metrosideros polymorpha Gaud., which varies widely in the masses of lower-side non-glandular leaf trichomes across various environments on the Hawaiian Islands. We employed both field surveys, including ecophysiological measurements at five elevation sites, and simulation analyses to predict the gas-exchange rates of leaves with various trichome-layer thicknesses across a wide range of environmental conditions. Field surveys showed that the trichome-layer thickness was the largest at the coldest and driest site and the thinnest at the wettest site. Field surveys, experimental manipulations and simulation analyses demonstrated that leaf trichomes significantly increased leaf temperature owing to the increased heat resistance. Simulation analyses showed that the effect of leaf trichomes on heat resistance was much larger than that on gas-flux resistance. Leaf trichomes can increase daily photosynthesis only in cold dry areas by increasing the leaf temperature. However, the increased leaf temperature with leaf trichomes resulted in a consistent decrease in the daily WUE at all elevation sites. The magnitudes of trichome effects on gas-exchange rates were associated with the temperature difference across the elevational gradient, the strong light intensity in Hawaii, the leaf-size variation and the conservative stomatal behavior of M. polymorpha as well as the trichome-layer thickness. In summary, the lower-side leaf trichomes in M. polymorpha can be beneficial for carbon assimilation in low-temperature environments but not for water conservation in most environments in terms of diffusion resistance.

Keywords: abaxial leaf hair; gas diffusion; heat diffusion; leaf temperature; non-glandular; photosynthesis; water-use efficiency.