From one side to two sides: the effects of stomatal distribution on photosynthesis.

Abstract

The functions of stomata have been studied for a long time; however, a clear understanding of the influences of stomatal distribution on photosynthesis, especially the CO2 diffusion, is still unclear. Here, we investigated the stomatal morphology, distribution on leaf surfaces, vein traits and gas exchange parameters of 61 species, of which 29 were amphistomatous, spanning 32 families. Photosynthesis (A) was tightly coupled with operational stomatal conductance (gs ) and mesophyll conductance (gm ) regardless of whether phylogenetic relationships were accounted for. Although the enhancement of gs from ferns and gymnosperms to angiosperms could largely be explained by the increase in leaf vein density (VLA) and stomatal density (SD), the gs was decoupled from VLA and SD across angiosperm species. Instead, A in angiosperms was further influenced by the allocation of stomatal pores on leaf surfaces, which dramatically increased gs and gm . Moreover, the ratio of gs to anatomically based maximum gs was, on average, 0.12 across species. Our results show that the shift of stomatal pores from one leaf side to both sides played an important role in regulating CO2 diffusion via both stomata and mesophyll tissues. Modifications of stomata distribution have potential as a functional trait for photosynthesis improvement.