Global influence of soil texture on ecosystem water limitation.

Low soil moisture and high vapour pressure deficit (VPD) cause plant water stress and lead to a variety of drought responses, including a reduction in transpiration and photosynthesis. When soils dry below critical soil moisture thresholds, ecosystems transition from energy to water limitation as stomata close to alleviate water stress. However, the mechanisms behind these thresholds remain poorly defined at the ecosystem scale.

Fine-resolution profile-scale data to depict the impact of tillage treatment and machine traffic on agricultural soil structure and hydrologic properties.

This data article provides high spatial resolution (1 cm) datasets and related figures of the penetrometer resistance (PR) and soil bulk density (BD) data of nine agricultural 50 × 160 cm soil profiles exposed to three tillage treatments and including a wheel track. Soil treatments are moldboard plowing (MP), deep loosening (DL), and minimum tillage (MT). It also provides bulk density data, soil moisture content at various suctions and the parameters of van Genuchten's model for 27 soil cores, and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) of 49 soil cores.

The effect of root hairs on root water uptake is determined by root-soil contact and root hair shrinkage.

The effect of root hairs on water uptake remains controversial. In particular, the key root hair and soil parameters that determine their importance have been elusive. We grew maize plants (Zea mays) in microcosms and scanned them using synchrotron-based X-ray computed microtomography.

Soil-plant hydraulics explain stomatal efficiency-safety tradeoff.

The efficiency-safety tradeoff has been thoroughly investigated in plants, especially concerning their capacity to transport water and avoid embolism. Stomatal regulation is a vital plant behaviour to respond to soil and atmospheric water limitation. Recently, a stomatal efficiency-safety tradeoff was reported where plants with higher maximum stomatal conductance (g ) exhibited greater sensitivity to stomatal closure during soil drying, that is, less negative leaf water potential at 50% g (ψ ).