Plant chamber measurements

Oscar Perez-Priego*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Enclosure-based techniques are widely used in physiological studies and largely constitute the foundation of our current understanding of the processes controlling the plant–soil–atmosphere gas exchange, such as photosynthesis, respiration, and evaporation. Back in the 1970s, chamber systems became highly developed to overcome the difficulties in integrating gas-exchange measurements from single leaves to obtain whole canopy estimates (whole plant or plant parts). The main principle of chamber-based measurements involves enclosures of a relatively large volume of air, so that the changes in the gas properties by diffusive processes can be continuously monitored over time. Typically, the basic components of a chamber system consist of an infrared gas analyzer, an air sampling circuit, the transparent enclosure, and a software-logging module to store and process data. Although a variety of types of enclosures and operating systems can be found, chamber fluxes can be subject to considerable uncertainties, making it fundamental to adapt appropriate error treatment protocols and flux calculation methods to improve the flux estimates. Accuracy and precision of the fluxes are largely determined by the degree of chamber disturbance. In addition to the more stable compounds, such as CO2, CH4 and water vapor, canopy chambers have been adapted to measure reactive trace gases (e. g., NO2, NO, O3, VOCs, HONO, HNO3, CH2O, etc.) with short lifetimes. In this chapter, we will provide a practical guide to the use of plant chambers and an elaborated discussion on basic considerations, including error treatment protocols and flux calculation procedures.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationSpringer Handbook of Atmospheric Measurements
    EditorsThomas Foken
    Place of PublicationCham, Switzerland
    PublisherSpringer, Springer Nature
    Chapter59
    Pages1585-1604
    Number of pages17
    ISBN (Electronic)9783030521714
    ISBN (Print)9783030521707
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2021

    Publication series

    NameSpringer Handbooks
    ISSN (Print)2522-8692
    ISSN (Electronic)2522-8706

    Keywords

    • canopy chamber
    • closed static chamber
    • flux calculation
    • open-top chamber
    • plant chamber
    • trace gas fluxes
    • transient chamber

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