The partitioning of surface vapor flux (FET) into evaporation (FE) and transpiration (FT) is theoretically possible because of distinct differences in end-member stable isotope composition. In this study, we combine high-frequency laser spectroscopy with eddy covariance techniques to critically evaluate isotope flux partitioning of FET over a grass field during a 15 day experiment. Following th...

Partitioning of eddy covariance flux measurements is routinely done to quantify the contributions of separate processes to the overall fluxes. Measurements of carbon dioxide fluxes represent the difference between gross ecosystem photosynthesis and total respiration, while measurements of water vapor fluxes represent the sum of transpiration and direct evaporation. Existing flux partitioning pr...

In a world of diminishing water reservoirs and a rising demand for food, the practice and development of water stress indicators and sensors are in rapid progress. The heat dissipation method, originally established by Granier, is herein applied and modified to enable sap flow measurements in date palm trees in the southern Arava desert of Israel. A long and tough sensor was constructed to with...

We used 20-mm-long, Granier-type sensors to quantify the effects of tree size, azimuth and radial position in the xylem on the spatial variability in xylem sap flux in 64-year-old trees of Taxodium distichum L. Rich. growing in a flooded forest. This information was used to scale flux to the stand level to investigate variations in half-hourly and daily (24-hour) sums of sap flow, transpiration...

Short-rotation coppice (SRC) has great potential for supplying biomass-based heat and energy, but little is known about SRC's ecological footprint, particularly its impact on the water cycle. To this end, we quantified the water use of a commercial scale poplar (Populus) SRC plantation in East Flanders (Belgium) at tree and stand level, focusing primarily on the transpiration component. First, ...

At the leaf scale, it is a long-held assumption that stomata close at night in the absence of light, causing transpiration to decrease to zero. Energy balance models and evapotranspiration equations often rely on net radiation as an upper bound, and some models reduce evapotranspiration to zero at night when there is no solar radiation. Emerging research is showing, however, that transpiration ...

Transpiration--the movement of water from the soil, through plants, and into the atmosphere--is the dominant water flux from the earth's terrestrial surface. The evolution of vascular plants, while increasing terrestrial primary productivity, led to higher transpiration rates and widespread alterations in the global climate system. Similarly, anthropogenic influences on transpiration rates are ...

Understanding successional trends in energy and matter exchange across the ecosystem-atmosphere boundary layer is an essential focus in ecological research; however, a general theory describing the observed pattern remains elusive. This paper examines whether the principle of maximum entropy production could provide the solution. A general framework is developed for calculating entropy producti...

Uncertainties in ecophysiological responses to environment, such as the impact of atmospheric and soil moisture conditions on plant water regulation, limit our ability to estimate key inputs for ecosystem models. Advanced statistical frameworks provide coherent methodologies for relating observed data, such as stem sap flux density, to unobserved processes, such as canopy conductance and transp...

Models seldom consider the effect of leaf-level biochemical acclimation to temperature when scaling forest water use. Therefore, the dependence of transpiration on temperature acclimation was investigated at the within-crown scale in climatically contrasting genotypes of Acer rubrum L., cv. October Glory (OG) and Summer Red (SR). The effects of temperature acclimation on intracanopy gradients i...