Thermal Consequences of Stomatal Behavior in CAM Plants

Gates (1962) has developed and expounded on the thermal balance of plant tissues in general. The heat budget of tissue can be described according to Gates and Benedict (1963) as  

The Qc term of Eq. (5.3) is to some extent a function of air movement over the surface. The fluted shape and spiny nature of some succulents, particularly cacti, would tend to reduce convective energy losses (Gibbs and Patten, 1970). 

The instantaneous rate of heating (and cooling) (H) of plant tissues was investigated by Ansari and Loomis (1959). They observed that the instantaneous rate of heating was a function of the total incoming radiation (R), the specific mass of the tissue (M), and the absorptivity (A), 

Thus succulent tissues with greater mass were found to heat and cool more slowly than nonsucculent plant tissues. The equilibrium temperature of the succulents, however, is greater than nonsucculents (Ansari and Loomis, 1959). 

Note Some recent papers dealing with the subjects of Chap. 5 are discussed in the Appendix on p. 201. 

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