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Intervessel Pit Structure and Histochemistry of Two Mangrove Species as Revealed by Cellular UV Microspectrophotometry and Electron Microscopy: Intraspecific Variation and Functional Significance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2008

Nele Schmitz ,
Gerald Koch ,
Uwe Schmitt ,
Hans Beeckman  and
Nico Koedam
Nele Schmitz*
Affiliation:
Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), Laboratory for Wood Biology and Xylarium, Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Laboratory for Plant Biology and Nature Management (APNA), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Gerald Koch
Affiliation:
Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut (vTI), Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Institute for Wood Technology and Wood Biology, Leuschnerstrasse 91, 21031 Hamburg, Germany
Uwe Schmitt
Affiliation:
Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut (vTI), Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Institute for Wood Technology and Wood Biology, Leuschnerstrasse 91, 21031 Hamburg, Germany
Hans Beeckman
Affiliation:
Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), Laboratory for Wood Biology and Xylarium, Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium
Nico Koedam
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Laboratory for Plant Biology and Nature Management (APNA), Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: nschmitz@vub.ac.be
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Abstract

Intervessel pits play a key role in trees' water transport, lying at the base of drought-induced embolism, and in the regulation of hydraulic conductivity via hydrogels bordering pit canals. Recently, their microstructure has been the focus of numerous studies, but the considerable variation, even within species and the histochemistry of pit membranes, remains largely unexplained. In the present study, intervessel pits of the outermost wood were examined for Avicennia marina, of dry and rainy season wood separately for Rhizophora mucronata. The thickness of the pit membranes was measured on transmission electron micrographs while their topochemical nature was also analyzed via cellular UV microspectrophotometry. Pit membranes of R. mucronata were slightly thicker in dry season wood than in rainy season wood, but their spectra showed for both seasons a lignin and a yet unidentified higher wavelength absorbing component. It was suggested to be a derivative of the deposits, regularly filling pit canals. The vestures of A. marina chemically resembled pit membranes rather than cell walls.

Keywords

intervessel pitpit membranecellular UV microspectrophotometry (UMSP)TEMmangrovevestureligninRhizophora mucronataAvicennia marinadeposit
Type
Biological Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 14 , Issue 5 , October 2008 , pp. 387 - 397
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2008

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