Opportunistic survival strategy of Welwitschia mirabilis: recent anatomical and ecophysiological studies elucidating stomatal behaviour and photosynthetic potential

We present new findings on leaf and stomatal apparatus anatomy and ecophysiology of Welwitschia mirabilis Hook.f. that are relevant to survival in the desert. We show that the structure of the stomatal apparatus with thin areas in the guard cell walls is a key feature enabling an opportunistic survival strategy through reversible quick switch-over from water conservation to CO2 assimilation. Desert environment and greenhouse data demonstrated that stomatal conductance increased almost immediately after dawn to reach a maximum within approximately an hour, whereupon a steep decrease occurred. After discontinuation of induced drought in potted plants, fast recovery of stomatal conductance occurred while copious new root hairs developed within 50 h. Stomatal limitation proved to be the main photosynthetic constraint under induced drought. Under severe drought stress, biochemical limitation came into play. Chlorophyll fluorescence data of in-situ plants showed that the photosynthetic potential of leaf tissue ...