Water transport in mangrove trees: plasticity of the hydraulic architecture, its ecological and functional significance (FWOKN210)

Since plants colonized land, water uptake and transport against gravitational forces are amongst the major challenges for plants. Therefore, water availability is the most determining factor for the distribution of species and vegetations on Earth. The main objective of this project is to contribute to unravelling the water transport in trees as a basis of their ecological distribution. Although water transport is a fundament of the life of land plants and a much-discussed topic since long, some fundamental questions about the driving force of the water transport and the functionality of the transporting conduits (xylem vessels) remain controversial.

Keywords:Biology

Disciplines:Biological sciences