Effects of ring-porous and diffuse-porous stem wood anatomy on the hydraulic parameters used in a water flow and storage model

Calibration of a recently developed water flow and storage model based on experimental data for a young diffuse-porous beech tree (Fagus sylvatica L.) and a young ring-porous oak tree (Quercus robur L.) revealed that differences in stem wood anatomy between species strongly affect the calibrated values of the hydraulic model parameters. The hydraulic capacitance (C) of the stem storage tissue was higher in oak than in beech (939.8 versus 212.3 mg MPa-1). Model simulation of the elastic modulus (epsilon) revealed that this difference was linked to the higher elasticity of the stem storage tissue of oak compared with beech. Furthermore, the hydraulic resistance (R-X) of beech was about twice that of oak (0.1829 versus 0.1072 MPa s mg(-1)). To determine the physiological meaning of the R-X parameter identified by model calibration, we analyzed the stem wood anatomy of the beech and oak trees. Calculation of stem specific hydraulic conductivity (k(s)) of beech and oak with the Hagen-Poiseuille equation confirmed the differences in R-X predicted by the model. The contributions of different vessel diameter classes to the total hydraulic conductivity of the xylem were calculated. As expected, the few big vessels contributed much more to total conductivity than the many small vessels. Compared with beech, the larger vessels of oak resulted in a higher k(s) (10.66 versus 4.90 kg m(-1) s(-1) MPa-1). The calculated ratio of k(s) of oak to beech was 2, confirming the R-X ratio obtained by model calibration. Thus, validation of the R-X parameter of the model led to identification of its physiological meaning.