Comment on "The blind men and the elephant: the impact of context and scale in evaluating conflicts between plant hydraulic safety and efficiency" by Meinzer et al. (2010).

A recent paper by Meinzer et al. (Oecologia, 2010, 164:287-296) has reviewed the topic of conflicts between hydraulic efficiency and safety in vascular plants. The authors raised the question that reliable interpretations of results on the mechanisms behind this trade-off requires an integrated approach that considers the variations in hydraulic traits throughout the entire plant and between different individuals, species and environments. Nonetheless, the literature review was only partial. Here, we discuss that an important feature of the whole tree xylem architecture, conduit tapering, is one of traits that must be considered when planning analyses of hydraulic properties of plants and interpreting the results.