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Water stress and cavitation
Last night’s discussion at the Wanship Community Hall on selecting drought tolerant plants for planting along the newly constructed highway was very encouraging … and very scientific. We were very fortunate to have Professor John Sperry from the University of Utah speak to our gathering. What a knowedgeable and approachable scientist! In his presentation, he described plant hydraulic cavitation as being analogous to a stroke in humans. Both are to be avoided. I did not fully understand the comparison, but I am sure if I think about it more the answer will be more clear to me.
What I remember most about the talk is a question from the audience. The question was “Could we select for the appropriate semi-arid shrubs to grow along the sides of the highway on the basis of hydraulic vulnerability curves? That generated quite a bit of discussion because the data suggested that we should not plant just any sagebrush along the highway, but that the sagebrush subspecies planted mattered in terms of cavitation and drought tolerance. I think we can use this information as we think about native plants to be estabished on the ridges and swales at different locations adjacent to the highway.
Last night’s discussion at the Wanship Community Hall on selecting drought tolerant plants for planting along the newly constructed highway was very encouraging … and very scientific. We were very fortunate to have Professor John Sperry from the University of Utah speak to our gathering. What a knowedgeable and approachable scientist! In his presentation, he described plant hydraulic cavitation as being analogous to a stroke in humans. Both are to be avoided. I did not fully understand the comparison, but I am sure if I think about it more the answer will be more clear to me.
What I remember most about the talk is a question from the audience. The question was “Could we select for the appropriate semi-arid shrubs to grow along the sides of the highway on the basis of hydraulic vulnerability curves? That generated quite a bit of discussion because the data suggested that we should not plant just any sagebrush along the highway, but that the sagebrush subspecies planted mattered in terms of cavitation and drought tolerance. I think we can use this information as we think about native plants to be estabished on the ridges and swales at different locations adjacent to the highway.
