A metropolitan scale water management analysis of the food-energy-water nexus

Guan, Xin; Mascaro, Giuseppe; Sampson, David; Maciejewski, Ross

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134478

One of the tenets of introductory biology courses is learning how the form or structure of any unit determines its function, and that form and function has long been used to understand patterns throughout the natural world (Grew, 1682; Wainwright, 1988; D􏰀ıaz et al., 2016). Form predicts function at the cellular and organ level in plants; for instance, xylem cell diameter and pit pore size are great indicators of stem xylem hydraulic conductance and vulner- ability to embolism (Pittermann & Sperry, 2005). Additionally, both theoretical treatments and experimental evidence indicate that root hydraulic function is coupled to leaf function (Cruiziat et al., 2002; Domec et al., 2009) but few studies have investigated how the anatomy and morphology of the roots may influence leaf function. In this issue of New Phytologist, Zhou et al. (2021; pp. 1481–1491) present results from a long-term precipitation experiment, showing that root form predicted leaf physiology. This study highlights that the form of one organ can have effects on function across the entire organism, providing a unique perspective in the study of form–function relationships.

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