ABSTRACT
Carbon uptake and transpiration in plant leaves occurs
through stomata that open and close. Stomatal action is
usually considered a response to environmental driving
factors. Here we show that leaf gas exchange is more
strongly related to whole tree level transport of assimilates
than previously thought, and that transport of assimilates is
a restriction of stomatal opening comparable with hydraulic
limitation. Assimilate transport in the phloem requires that
osmotic pressure at phloem loading sites in leaves exceeds
the drop in hydrostatic pressure that is due to transpiration.
Assimilate transport thus competes with transpiration for
water. Excess sugar loading, however, may block the assimilate
transport because of viscosity build-up in phloem sap.
Therefore, for given conditions, there is a stomatal opening
that maximizes phloem transport if we assume that sugar
loading is proportional to photosynthetic rate. Here we
show that such opening produces the observed behaviour of
leaf gas exchange. Our approach connects stomatal regulation
directly with sink activity, plant structure and soil water
availability as they all influence assimilate transport. It produces
similar behaviour as the optimal stomatal control
approach, but does not require determination of marginal
cost of water parameter.