Dear Dr
Woodward,
thank you
very much for inviting all of us to reply to Zimmermann et al. in a letter to
be published in New Phytologist. However, I must say that I completely agree
with Dr Cochard that such a letter would be useless. It would only help to give
further audience to Zimmermann's theory, a theory completely based on opinions
lacking experimental support. The inconsistencies and flaws of Zimmermann ideas
have been clearly pointed out in several papers published over the last 10
years or so. Many of that papers are even not cited in Zimmermann's
article. Moreover, I completely agree with Prof. J.S. Sperry that the tone of
the paper does not encourage to take the article seriously.
Once more, I have to ask that the Editor of the New
Phytologist informs the readers that this Tansley Review has to be considered
as an opinion paper shared only by their authors, while the vast majority of
plant physiologists believes that the Cohesion-Tension Theory is the only valid
and consistent theory at present available to explain experimental observations
dealing with water transport in plants. In the case of a negative response, I
must confess that I will no longer regard New Phytologist as a top journal.
Yous sincerely,
Andrea Nardini