Foliar Water Uptake and Its Relationship with Photosynthetic Capacity and Anatomical Structure between Female and Male Populus euphratica at Different Growth Stages
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The article “Foliar water uptake and its relationship with photosynthetic capacity and anatomical structure between female and male Populus euphratica at different growth stages” describes valuable information about the water absorption capacity of male and femlae P. euphratica leaves that exhibit gender differences. This article investigates the foliar water uptake in Populus euphratica and reveals gender-specific differences in water absorption capacity across different growth stages.
The research is interesting and has novelty, however, I recommend some minor additions before acceptance of the manuscript
* The abstract is too descriptive and generic -it should be insightful and informative in its own. Concise it with key findings.
* Anatomical pictures should be added in the manuscript to visually demonstrate gender specific differences in leaf structure Populus euphratica at different growth stages.
Figure 2. Note: Different lowercase letters indicate statistically significant differences between treatments (one-way ANOVA, p < 0.05). (Table S4). Why Table S4. Explain???
* I suggest incorporating more recent references to support your arguments in discussion part.
* Conclusion section needs an improvement. I can’t understand this conclusion from the results of this study. I think it’s too general.
Minor editing of English language required.
Author Response
Dear Dr. Liu,
Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to revise our manuscript (forests-2470618). We appreciate the very constructive comments and helpful suggestions from the two anonymous reviewers that are all very valuable for the improvement of this manuscript. We have revised the manuscript accordingly. We believe that by addressing these review comments, the manuscript has been substantially improved.
Please see the details in our point-by-point responses to the review comments as well as the corresponding changes made to the manuscript.
Sincerely,
Xue-Ni Zhang, Ph.D.
College of Ecology and Environment, Xinjiang University
On behalf of all authors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewers' comments:
Reviewer #1:The article “Foliar water uptake and its relationship with photosynthetic capacity and anatomical structure between female and male Populus euphratica at different growth stages” describes valuable information about the water absorption capacity of male and femlae P. euphratica leaves that exhibit gender differences. This article investigates the foliar water uptake in Populus euphratica and reveals gender-specific differences in water absorption capacity across different growth stages. The research is interesting and has novelty, however, I recommend some minor additions before acceptance of the manuscript.
=>Thanks a lot for your overall positive comments on our manuscript!
1、*The abstract is too descriptive and generic -it should be insightful and informative in its own. Concise it with key findings.
=>Thank you for this suggestion. We deleted the irrelevant content and retained key findings.
2、*Anatomical pictures should be added in the manuscript to visually demonstrate gender specific differences in leaf structure Populus euphratica at different growth stages.
=> Thank you for this helpful suggestion. We have put the anatomical pictures into manuscript.
3、Figure 2. Note: Different lowercase letters indicate statistically significant differences between treatments (one-way ANOVA, P < 0.05). (Table S4). Why Table S4. Explain???
=> We used one-way analysis of variance to visually compare the differences between the groups, but the results of the three-way repeated measures analysis of variance, such as F value and p value, can be referred to Table S4.
4、*I suggest incorporating more recent references to support your arguments in discussion part.
=> Thank you for this helpful suggestion. According to your suggestion, we have added some reference in the Discussion section, which make this part more logical.
Reference:
Yu, L.; Huang, Z.; Tang, S.; Korpelainen, H.; Li, C. Populus Euphratica Males Exhibit Stronger Drought and Salt Stress Resistance than Females. Environ. Exp. Bot. 2023, 205, 105114, doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2022.105114.
Li, Z.-K.; Chen, Y.-D.; Wang, J.-L.; Jiang, L.-M.; Fan, Y.-X.; Lü, G.-H. Foliar water uptake and its influencing factors differ between female and male Populus euphratica. Environ. Exp. Bot. 2023, 213, 105419, doi: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2023.105419
Yao, J.-Q., Chen, Y.-N., Guan, X.-F., Zhao, Y., Chen, J., Mao, W.-Y. Recent climate and hydrological changes in a mountain–basin system in Xinjiang, China. Earth-Sci. Rev. 2022, 226, 103957.
Chin, A. R. O., Guzmán-Delgado, P., Kerhoulas, L. P., Zwieniecki, M. A. Acclimation of interacting leaf surface traits affects foliar water uptake. Tree Physiol. 2023, 43, 418-429.
Matos, I. S., Binks, O., Eller, C. B., Zorger, B. B., Meir, P., Dawson, T. E., Rosado, B. H. P. Revisiting plant hydrological niches: The importance of atmospheric resources for ground-rooted plants. Journal of Ecology, 2022, 110, 1746-1756
Losso, A., Dämon, B., Hacke, U., Mayr, S. High potential for foliar water uptake in early stages of leaf development of three woody angiosperms. Physiol plantarum, 2023, doi: 10.1111/ppl.13961
Chin, A. R. O., Guzmán-Delgado, P., Görlich, A., HilleRisLambers, J. Towards multivariate functional trait syndromes: Predicting foliar water uptake in trees. Ecology, 2023, doi: 10.1002/ecy.4112
Ferreira, J. L. D., Daniela, B., Eliodoro, V. C., Pinheiro, A. S. F. Do photosynthetic metabolism and habitat influence foliar water uptake in orchids? Plant biology, 2022, 25(2): 257-267.
5、*Conclusion section needs an improvement. I can’t understand this conclusion from the results of this study. I think it’s too general.
=>Thank you for this suggestion. We have revised the Conclusion section to summary the important findings.
6、Minor editing of English language required.
=>We have checked the whole manuscript and tried our best to minimize the language mistakes, but we are indeed not native speakers. We have also asked an Academic Language Editing Service (https://www.susy.mdpi.com) to refine the English language in current the version of the manuscript (see figure below). We believe that the language has now been improved.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
This manuscript deals with a comparative study of the atmospheric water absorption properties of Populus euphratica leaves, a dioecious species with known leaf sexual dimorphism, which inhabits arid zones. This study is of great interest and the topic is within the scope of the journal. The manuscript is very well structured and written, and the bibliography is very up-to-date. The experimental design and the sample size are appropriate. The study has revealed the different atmospheric water absorption strategies between the two sexes of the same species, and their effect on the water status and gas exchange. Despite the differences, the two sexes coexist in the same area, but this balance could be affected if climate change significantly modifies the growing conditions in the area.
I recommend a minor revision. See attached file for particular and minor comments. It contains a few paragraphs highlighted in yellow and comments.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Dr. Liu,
Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to revise our manuscript (forests-2470618). We appreciate the very constructive comments and helpful suggestions from the two anonymous reviewers that are all very valuable for the improvement of this manuscript. We have revised the manuscript accordingly. We believe that by addressing these review comments, the manuscript has been substantially improved.
Please see the details in our point-by-point responses to the review comments as well as the corresponding changes made to the manuscript.
Sincerely,
Xue-Ni Zhang, Ph.D.
College of Ecology and Environment, Xinjiang University
On behalf of all authors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewers' comments:
Reviewer #2
This manuscript deals with a comparative study of the atmospheric water absorption properties of Populus euphratica leaves, a dioecious species with known leaf sexual dimorphism, which inhabits arid zones. This study is of great interest and the topic is within the scope of the journal. The manuscript is very well structured and written, and the bibliography is very up-to-date. The experimental design and the sample size are appropriate. The study has revealed the different atmospheric water absorption strategies between the two sexes of the same species, and their effect on the water status and gas exchange. Despite the differences, the two sexes coexist in the same area, but this balance could be affected if climate change significantly modifies the growing conditions in the area.
I recommend a minor revision. See attached file for particular and minor comments. It contains a few paragraphs highlighted in yellow and comments.
=>Thanks for these inspiring comments and valuable suggestions!
1、“…measured the water absorption characteristics of P. euphratica leaves through an leaf absorption capacity experimen…”
=>Revised as suggested.
2、Do the authors mean potential evapotranspiration? Evaporation cannot be greater than precipitation, unless there is groundwater coming from other areas. Please, check this sentence and clarify it. “The annual precipitation (100-200 mm) is much lower than the evaporation (1500-2000 mm).”
=> Thank you for this helpful suggestion. This sentence has been revised. Please see : The annual precipitation (100-200 mm) is much lower than the potential evapotranspiration (1500-2000 mm).
3、The abbreviations used in the text and in the table must be the same: RH is different from Rh; P is different from P. Please be consistent.
=> Thank you for this helpful suggestion. We have corrected it.
4、Please indicate the environmental conditions of temperature, relative humidity and wind if any. “The experiment was divided into three stages: for the first two hours, leaves were weighed every 15 min; for the next two hours, leaves were weighed every 30 min; and for the last two hours, leaves were measured every 1 h. The experiment ran for a total of 6 hours, collecting data from 14 moments.”
=> Thank you for pointing this out. The leaf water absorption experiment was carried out by quickly bringing the leaves collected in the field back to the laboratory. The environmental conditions such as average indoor temperature was about 24℃, the air relative humidity was about 35%, and there was no wind. According to your comments, we have added contents about environmental conditions in this paragraph.
5、It is not recommended to start a subsection with a table or a figure, but start it with some sentence of text. This same comment can be also applied to the next subsection (3.3).
=> Thank you for this helpful suggestion. According to your suggestion, we have revised all the table and figure.
6、The quality of the interior legends of this figure should be improved.
=> Thank you for this helpful suggestion. We have revised all the images in the manuscript to make sure them more clearer.
7、It would be interesting to include a last paragraph with a consideration on how climate change would affect the persistence of both sexes. That is, if any of them would be more affected, or not, compromising the survival of the species.
=> Thanks for these inspiring comments and valuable suggestions! We originally wrote the manuscript as part of a discussion to explain sex differences at different growth stages, and we thought that the one-year experiment might not be able to show the effects of climate change, in other words, the time scale of the experiment was too small to reflect the effects of climate change. However, based on your suggestion, we have added relevant content to the discussion section, and we hope that our revision will make the article more specific and reasonable. Please see below:
The studies have shown that male P. euphratica shows stronger drought resistance than female P. euphratica (Yu et al., 2023), and the stronger leaf water absorption capacity of female P. euphratica may benefit it at the individual or population level (Li et al., 2023). At present, we do not have sufficient data to prove that climate change has a greater impact on female or male P. euphratica. Especially in the past 50 years, the climate in Xinjiang has shown a trend of warming and wetting (Yao et al., 2022), which may make the mechanism of climate influence on plants more complicated. Therefore, in the future, we will focus on the role of long-term changes in climate on the structural, physiological and ecological adaptability of dioecious plants.
Reference
Yu, L.; Huang, Z.; Tang, S.; Korpelainen, H.; Li, C. Populus Euphratica Males Exhibit Stronger Drought and Salt Stress Resistance than Females. Environ. Exp. Bot. 2023, 205, 105114, doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2022.105114.
Li, Z.-K.; Chen, Y.-D.; Wang, J.-L.; Jiang, L.-M.; Fan, Y.-X.; Lü, G.-H. Foliar water uptake and its influencing factors differ between female and male Populus euphratica. Environ. Exp. Bot. 2023, 213, 105419, doi: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2023.105419
Yao, J.-Q., Chen, Y.-N., Guan, X.-F., Zhao, Y., Chen, J., Mao, W.-Y. Recent climate and hydrological changes in a mountain–basin system in Xinjiang, China. Earth-Sci. Rev. 2022, 226, 103957.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Results section
3.4. The effects of wetting on leaf anatomical structure.
This section still needs improvement, there are many mistakes, including P. euphratica name. It must be in italic style (P. euphratica). Moreover the quality of Fig 3 is very poor.
In order to provide a clearer visualization of the results, I suggest authors to make new figures and all the cells should be visual clear. I suggest authors to make new figures and all the cells should be visual clear.
In the whole manuscript, there are still many errors.
I suggest authors to carefully revise this whole manuscript. There are still many errors.
Minor editing of English language required
Author Response
Dear Dr. Liu,
Thank you very much for giving us the opportunity to further revise our manuscript (forests-2470618). We have made further revisions to our manuscript according to the comments from Reviewer #1. We believe that by addressing these review comments, the manuscript has been substantially improved.
Sincerely,
Xue-Ni Zhang, Ph.D.
College of Ecology and Environment, Xinjiang University
On behalf of all authors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewers' comments:
Reviewer #1: 3.4. The effects of wetting on leaf anatomical structure. This section still needs improvement, there are many mistakes, including P. euphratica name. It must be in italic style (P. euphratica). Moreover the quality of Fig 3 is very poor. In order to provide a clearer visualization of the results, I suggest authors to make new figures and all the cells should be visual clear. In the whole manuscript, there are still many errors. I suggest authors to carefully revise this whole manuscript. There are still many errors.
=>Thanks a lot for your overall positive comments on our manuscript!
Firstly, According to your comment, we revised the font format in the manuscript, esperically latin name style.
Secondly, We have uploaded a clearer picture, which meets the requirements of forest's submission. The format of the picture was ‘.TIFF’, and the resolution of the picture was 300 ppi × 300 ppi. In this paper, the anatomical images taken by the optical microscope was ‘.JPG’ format, not a vector file, so the clarity of the image was affected by the original file and did not support high-definition vector images. The purpose of our study in this section was to explore the characteristics of leaf tissue, but not to explore the changes of organelle level in plants. Therefore, the results obtained by optical microscopy have met our research needs. However, according to your suggestions, we will tend to study more microscopically in the future work, not only at the cellular level, but even at the genetic level.
Finally, we carefully checked and modified the language, format, statistical methods and professional terms of the manuscript.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
