Plant & Canopy 101: Tracking Water Flow from Soil to Atmosphere

When trying to understand the movement of water through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, you don’t need to rely on inference to know what’s happening within the plant.
In this webinar, METER Product Manager for plant, canopy, and atmospheric monitoring instrumentation Jeff Ritter will explain the measurements you need to track the moisture journey through your plants. He’ll discuss:
- Key measurements for tracking moisture through the plant and canopy, including leaf area index (LAI) and stomatal conductance (SC)
- Research-tested methods to gain a comprehensive view of water movement through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum
- Examples of using soil moisture sensors to measure stem water content in trees
- How to connect LAI, SC, and stem water content measurements
- And more

2. Tracking water from soil to stem to atmosphere
A PLANT’S TALE
Jeff Ritter
Plant and Canopy Product Manager, METER Group, Inc.

3. My perspective on plants
Flaveria bidentis Nicotiana tabacum Zea mays

4. The Plant's
Perspective
•Water moves along a
continuum: Soil to plant to
atmosphere to soil
•We need to build a toolkit to
measure water at every step
for a full picture
•Plant specific measurements
are tough!

5. HOW DO WE
MEASURE
WATER IN THE
PLANT?

6. Pullman, WA
Weather station
Willow grove
P. ponderosa stand
A TALE OF TWO PLOTS

7. A TALE OF TWO PLOTS

9. WATER FROM SOIL TO STEM TO ATMOSPHERE

10. THE STORY BELOW GROUND
Willows sensors installed at: 45, 90, 180 cm
Pine sensors installed at: 30, 60, 90 cm

11. ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS

12. ATMOSPHERIC DRIVERS

13. Precipitation
ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS

14. VPD
ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENTS

15. THE PLANT ITSELF

16. PLANT MEASUREMENT
Leaf level

17. PLANT MEASUREMENT
Leaf level – stomatal conductance

18. Canopy level
PLANT MEASUREMENT

19. Canopy level – Leaf area index (LAI)
PLANT MEASUREMENT

20. Leaf and Canopy combined
PLANT MEASUREMENT

21. WHAT ABOUT
WATER IN THE
PLANT?

22. STEM WATER CONTENT

24. Calibration

25. HOW THE WATER MOVES

26. HOW THE WATER MOVES

27. WEEKLY RELATIVE WATER USAGE

28. MONTHLY RELATIVE WATER USAGE

32. CHALLENGES
& NEXT STEPS
More sensors!
•Water potential sensors in trees
•Canopy temperature
•NDVI
Species specific SWC calibration

33. You need to measure water at every
step to know what is driving it
•Soil – soil moisture content
•Stem – stem water content
•Atmosphere – VPD and precipitation
CONCLUSIONS

34. QUESTIONS?
Thank you for your time