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Inspection of gas bubbles in frozen Betula pendula xylem with micro‐CT: Conduit size, water status and bark permeability affect bubble characteristics

Bubbles of gas trapped in the xylem during freezing are a major cause of damage for trees growing at high altitudes or latitudes, as the bubbles may cause embolism during thawing. Yet the factors controlling bubble formation upon freeze–thaw cycles remain poorly understood. Especially the size of th...

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Autores principales: Lintunen, Anna, Salmon, Yann, Hölttä, Teemu, Suhonen, Heikki
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9540547/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ppl.13749
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author Lintunen, Anna
Salmon, Yann
Hölttä, Teemu
Suhonen, Heikki
author_facet Lintunen, Anna
Salmon, Yann
Hölttä, Teemu
Suhonen, Heikki
author_sort Lintunen, Anna
collection PubMed
description Bubbles of gas trapped in the xylem during freezing are a major cause of damage for trees growing at high altitudes or latitudes, as the bubbles may cause embolism during thawing. Yet the factors controlling bubble formation upon freeze–thaw cycles remain poorly understood. Especially the size of the bubbles formed in the ice is crucial for winter embolism formation. We used high‐resolution X‐ray microtomography combined with freezing experiments to investigate the size and shape of 68,343 gas bubbles in frozen conduits in branches of Betula pendula. We also studied how conduit size, tree water status (−0.2 MPa vs. −0.6 MPa) and bark permeability to gases (decreased by Vaseline‐coating) affect the gas bubbles characteristics. High‐resolution X‐ray images allowed us to detect gas bubbles down to 1.0 μm in diameter and revealed that not only small spherical gas bubbles but also gaseous volumes of various shapes and sizes were found from the frozen xylem indicating that gas bubbles may have started to grow already during the freezing propagation. Most of the gas bubbles were found in fibers, but the rare gas bubbles found in the vessels were larger than those in the fibers. Bubble volume increased with conduit volume in both fibers and vessels, but conduit size alone could not explain gas bubble volume. Low water potential and restriction of gas escape from the branch seem to cause more, larger, and less spherical bubbles and thus increase the risk of embolism formation. These findings open new research avenues for further studies of winter embolism formation.
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spelling pubmed-95405472022-10-14 Inspection of gas bubbles in frozen Betula pendula xylem with micro‐CT: Conduit size, water status and bark permeability affect bubble characteristics Lintunen, Anna Salmon, Yann Hölttä, Teemu Suhonen, Heikki Physiol Plant Special Issue Articles Bubbles of gas trapped in the xylem during freezing are a major cause of damage for trees growing at high altitudes or latitudes, as the bubbles may cause embolism during thawing. Yet the factors controlling bubble formation upon freeze–thaw cycles remain poorly understood. Especially the size of the bubbles formed in the ice is crucial for winter embolism formation. We used high‐resolution X‐ray microtomography combined with freezing experiments to investigate the size and shape of 68,343 gas bubbles in frozen conduits in branches of Betula pendula. We also studied how conduit size, tree water status (−0.2 MPa vs. −0.6 MPa) and bark permeability to gases (decreased by Vaseline‐coating) affect the gas bubbles characteristics. High‐resolution X‐ray images allowed us to detect gas bubbles down to 1.0 μm in diameter and revealed that not only small spherical gas bubbles but also gaseous volumes of various shapes and sizes were found from the frozen xylem indicating that gas bubbles may have started to grow already during the freezing propagation. Most of the gas bubbles were found in fibers, but the rare gas bubbles found in the vessels were larger than those in the fibers. Bubble volume increased with conduit volume in both fibers and vessels, but conduit size alone could not explain gas bubble volume. Low water potential and restriction of gas escape from the branch seem to cause more, larger, and less spherical bubbles and thus increase the risk of embolism formation. These findings open new research avenues for further studies of winter embolism formation. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2022-08-15 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC9540547/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ppl.13749 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Physiologia Plantarum published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Special Issue Articles
Lintunen, Anna
Salmon, Yann
Hölttä, Teemu
Suhonen, Heikki
Inspection of gas bubbles in frozen Betula pendula xylem with micro‐CT: Conduit size, water status and bark permeability affect bubble characteristics
title Inspection of gas bubbles in frozen Betula pendula xylem with micro‐CT: Conduit size, water status and bark permeability affect bubble characteristics
title_full Inspection of gas bubbles in frozen Betula pendula xylem with micro‐CT: Conduit size, water status and bark permeability affect bubble characteristics
title_fullStr Inspection of gas bubbles in frozen Betula pendula xylem with micro‐CT: Conduit size, water status and bark permeability affect bubble characteristics
title_full_unstemmed Inspection of gas bubbles in frozen Betula pendula xylem with micro‐CT: Conduit size, water status and bark permeability affect bubble characteristics
title_short Inspection of gas bubbles in frozen Betula pendula xylem with micro‐CT: Conduit size, water status and bark permeability affect bubble characteristics
title_sort inspection of gas bubbles in frozen betula pendula xylem with micro‐ct: conduit size, water status and bark permeability affect bubble characteristics
topic Special Issue Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9540547/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ppl.13749
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