Water Adsorption to Leaves of Tall Cryptomeria japonica Tree Analyzed by Infrared Spectroscopy under Relative Humidity Control

Leaf water storage is a complex interaction between live tissue properties (anatomy and physiology) and physicochemical properties of biomolecules and water. How leaves adsorb water molecules based on interactions between biomolecules and water, including hydrogen bonding, challenges our understanding of hydraulic acclimation in tall trees where leaves are exposed to more water stress. Here, we used infrared (IR) microspectroscopy with changing relative humidity (RH) on leaves of tall Cryptomeria japonica trees. OH band areas correlating with water content were larger for treetop (52 m) than for lower-crown (19 m) leaves, regardless of relative humidity (RH). This high water adsorption in treetop leaves was not explained by polysaccharides such as Ca-bridged pectin, but could be attributed to the greater cross-sectional area of the transfusion tissue. In both treetop and lower-crown leaves, the band areas of long (free water: around 3550 cm(−1)) and short (bound water: around 3200 cm(−1)) hydrogen bonding OH components showed similar increases with increasing RH, while the band area of free water was larger at the treetop leaves regardless of RH. Free water molecules with longer H bonds were considered to be adsorbed loosely to hydrophobic CH surfaces of polysaccharides in the leaf-cross sections.