An Inverse Scaling Relationship between Stomatal Density and Mean Nearest Neighbor Distance: Evidence from a Photinia Hybrid and One of Its Parents

Stomata are involved in transpiration and CO(2) uptake by mediating gas exchange between internal plant tissues and the atmosphere. The capacity for gas exchange depends on stomatal density (SD), stomatal size, and pore dimensions. Most published work on stomatal quantification has assumed that stomatal distribution and stomatal density are spatially homogeneous across the leaf, but this assumption has been seldom tested. We selected 32 leaves from a Photinia hybrid, Photinia × fraseri ‘Red Robin’, and one of its parents, P. serratifolia. For each leaf, the leaf surface was divided into three or four equidistant layers along the apical–basal axis, and, in each layer, two positions, one closer to the midrib and the other closer to the leaf margin, were further selected. We calculated SD and mean nearest neighbor distance (MNND) for each lamina section and tested the scaling relationship between SD and MNND of the sampled stomatal centers using reduced major axis protocols. In addition, we calculated the stomatal aggregation index (SAI) for each lamina section to examine the spatial arrangement of stomata at the given size of field of view of 1.2 mm × 0.9 mm. We observed that SD decreased from the lamina apex towards the base for central lamina areas but varied little at leaf margins. An inverse scaling relationship between SD and MNND was observed for both species. This relationship could be used for SD estimation using the rapidly estimated trait, MNND. SAI did not vary significantly throughout leaf lamina, and the numerical values of SAI for all fields of view were greater than one, which indicates significant spatial repulsion between stomata. The study suggests that SD varies across leaf lamina to fine-tune plant water use and maximize carbon gain. However, spatial structures of stomata from different lamina sections exhibit similar patterns (i.e., spatial inhibition between stomata at small scales), probably due to hierarchical leaf vein patterns.