Niche complementarity in resource use has been proposed as a key mechanism to explain the positive effects of increasing plant species richness on ecosystem processes, in particular on primary productivity. Since hardly any information is available for niche complementarity in water use, we tested the effects of plant diversity on spatial and temporal complementarity in water uptake in experime...

Five different water passive samplers were calibrated under laboratory conditions for measurement of 124 legacy and current used pesticides. This study provides a protocol for the passive sampler preparation, calibration, extraction method and instrumental analysis. Sampling rates (RS) and passive sampler-water partition coefficients (KPW) were calculated for silicone rubber, polar organic chem...

The root system is vital for the cotton plant to absorb nutrients and water from the soil and to anchor the plant. Two important soil-borne pathogens of cotton, Meloidogyne incognita (root-knot nematode), and Thielaviopsis basicola can adversely affect root systems resulting in suppressed growth and less efficient water and nutrient uptake and transport. In fields where these pathogens occur to...

Soil water content (SWC) plays a vital role in the process of evapotranspiration (ET) rubber plantations. To investigate influence ET on soil balance plantations, we measured SWC at depths 10, 20, 30, 40, 70, 100, 130 cm, characteristics root density distribution, and estimated deep percolation plantation Xishuangbanna using Hydrus-1D model. Our results indicate model can accurate simulate dyna...

In this study, we developed a spatially explicit model for nutrient uptake by root hairs based on X-ray computed tomography images of the rhizosphere soil structure. This work extends our previous work to larger domains and hence is valid for longer times. Unlike the model used previously, which considered only a small region of soil about the root, we considered an effectively infinite volume ...

An existing model of light and water use by crops (RESCAP) was adapted and evaluated for trees. In the model, growth on any given day is determined either by the amount of intercepted radiation (by means of the light utilization coefficient, epsilon) or by the maximum rate of water extraction by roots (a function of root biomass and soil water content). In either case, transpiration and growth ...

A model has been used to simulate potassium (K) uptake by wheat in a pot culture experiment. Three soils from India, namely Alfisol, Inceptisol and Vertisol, were differentially K exhausted by Sudan grass (Surghum vulgare var. Sudanensis) for a period of 280 days and were used to simulate potassium uptake by wheat (Triticum aestivum) and also to predict the amounts of K released or fixed during...