Home › Botany › Measurement of Leaf Hydraulic Conductance and Stomatal Conductance and Their Responses to Irradiance and Dehydration Using the Evaporative Flux Method (EFM)
Botany JoVE (Open Access) Citable · DOI

Measurement of Leaf Hydraulic Conductance and Stomatal Conductance and Their Responses to Irradiance and Dehydration Using the Evaporative Flux Method (EFM)

DOI: 10.3791/4179-v
What you'll learn
  • ✓ Measure leaf hydraulic conductance using evaporative flux method
  • ✓ Simultaneously quantify stomatal conductance in excised leaves
  • ✓ Assess light and dehydration responses of conductance
  • ✓ Apply EFM to hydrated and dehydrated leaf samples
Protocol

Biopharma Insights We describe a relatively rapid (30 min) and realistic method for simultaneously measurement of leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) and stomatal conductance (gs) for transpiring excised leaves. The method can be modified to measure the light and dehydration responses of Kleaf and gs.

Difficulty
intermediate
Total time
~30 min/sample
Model organism
Arabidopsis thaliana
Biosafety
BSL-1

Steps

1
Measure Kmax in hydrated leaves

Set up the evaporative flux method to measure leaf hydraulic conductance for fully hydrated, transpiring excised leaves.

▶ 02:18
2
Measure Kleaf in dehydrated leaves

Adapt the EFM protocol to quantify leaf hydraulic conductance in leaves subjected to dehydration.

▶ 06:44
3
Apply EFM for light responses

Modify the method to assess irradiance-dependent changes in Kleaf and stomatal conductance.

▶ 09:07
4
Interpret EFM results and limitations

Review the utility, assumptions, and practical considerations of the evaporative flux method.

▶ 11:17
💬 Comments coming soon