21
August 2003
Stomata: Door to the key
Stomata can be seen as simple doors between the inside of a leaf and the surrounding atmosphere, allowing the inward diffusion of CO2 during photosynthesis and the outward diffusion of water vapour by transpiration. But the number and opening of stomata represent the responses to a wide range of interacting internal and external conditions, on timescales from minutes to millennia. Hetherington and Woodward review the key role of stomata in the global circulation of atmospheric water and CO2, and point to some of the key events that may have been influenced by stomata. For instance, development of the dumb-bell shaped stomata of grasses played an important role in increasing the ability of gasses to succeed in arid areas, and this change was a prerequisite for the subsequent domestication of grazing animals by humans.
The role of stomata in sensing and driving environmental
change
ALISTAIR M. HETHERINGTON & F. IAN WOODWARD
Nature 424, 901–908 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01843
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