Calculate intrinsic water use efficiency
calculate_wue.Rd
Calculates the intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE
). This function can
accomodate alternative column names for the variables taken from the data
file in case they change at some point in the future. This function also
checks the units of each required column and will produce an error if any
units are incorrect.
Usage
calculate_wue(
exdf_obj,
calculate_c3 = FALSE,
a_column_name = 'A',
ca_column_name = 'Ca',
cc_column_name = 'Cc',
ci_column_name = 'Ci',
e_column_name = 'E',
gmc_column_name = 'gmc',
gsw_column_name = 'gsw',
h2o_a_column_name = 'H2O_s',
h2o_i_column_name = 'H2O_i',
total_pressure_column_name = 'total_pressure'
)
Arguments
- exdf_obj
An
exdf
object.- calculate_c3
A logical variable indicating whether to calculate additional variables that can be useful for C3 plants (
g_ratio
anddrawdown_ct
). Note that these quantities require values of mesophyll conductance andCc
, so it is not always possible to calculate them.- a_column_name
The name of the column in
exdf_obj
that contains the net CO2 assimilation rate inmicromol m^(-2) s^(-1)
.- ca_column_name
The name of the column in
exdf_obj
that contains the ambient CO2 concentration inmicromol mol^(-1)
.- cc_column_name
The name of the column in
exdf_obj
that contains the chloroplastic CO2 concentration inmicromol mol^(-1)
. Typically these are calculated usingapply_gm
.- ci_column_name
The name of the column in
exdf_obj
that contains the intercellular CO2 concentration inmicromol mol^(-1)
.- e_column_name
The name of the column in
licor_exdf
that contains the transpiration rate inmol m^(-2) s^(-1)
.- gmc_column_name
The name of the column in
licor_exdf
that contains the mesophyll conductance to CO2 inmol m^(-2) s^(-1) bar^(-1)
.- gsw_column_name
The name of the column in
licor_exdf
that contains the stomatal conductance to water vapor inmol m^(-2) s^(-1)
.- h2o_a_column_name
The name of the column in
exdf_obj
that contains the water vapor concentration in the air surrounding the leaf (i.e., the ambient water vapor concentration) inmmol mol^(-1)
.- h2o_i_column_name
The name of the column in
exdf_obj
that contains the water vapor concentration in the leaf's intercellular air spaces inmmol mol^(-1)
. Typically this value is calculated usingcalculate_gas_properties
.- total_pressure_column_name
The name of the column in
exdf_obj
that contains the total pressure inbar
. Typically this value is calculated usingcalculate_total_pressure
.
Details
Leaf-level water use efficiency (lWUE
) is defined as the ratio of net
CO2 assimilation (An
) to transpiration (E
):
lWUE = An / E
.
This quantity can also be expressed in terms of water and CO2 concentrations:
lWUE = 0.6 * Ca * (1 - Ci / Ca) / (H2Oi - H2Oa)
.
Here, Ca
and Ci
are the atmospheric and intercellular CO2
concentrations, and H2Oa
and H2Oi
are the atmospheric and
intercellular water vapor concentrations. If differences in lWUE
are
measured between different groups of plants, it can be helpful to separately
investigate Ci / Ca
and H2Oi - H2Oa
to see which factor is
driving the differences.
The intrinsic water use efficiency iWUE
is a measure of leaf-level
water use efficiency, and it is defined to be the ratio An
and the
stomatal conductance to H2O diffusion (gsw
):
iWUE = An / gsw
.
For C3 plants, iWUE
can be reexpressed as
iWUE = (gmc / gsw) / (1 + (gmc / gsw)) * (Ca - Cc)
,
where gmc
is the mesophyll conductance to CO2 diffusion and Cc
is the chloroplast CO2 concentration. If differences in iWUE
are
measured between different groups of plants, it can be helpful to separately
investigate gmc / gsw
and Ca - Cc
to see which factor is driving
the differences.
Note: both measures of water use efficiency depend directly or indirectly on stomatal conductance. Stomata are notoriously slow to reach steady-state, but water use efficiency is only reliable at steady-state. For this reason, it is recommended to only analyze water use efficiency for gas exchange measurements where stomatal conductance has stabilized. For an A-Ci or A-Q curve, only the first measured point has typically reached steady-state stomatal conductance. On the other hand, for a Ball-Berry curve, all measured points should have reached steady-state stomatal conductance.
For more details about these quantities, see Leakey et al. "Water Use Efficiency as a Constraint and Target for Improving the Resilience and Productivity of C3 and C4 Crops." Annual Review of Plant Biology 70 (1): 781–808 (2019) [doi:10.1146/annurev-arplant-042817-040305 ].
In this function, the following variables are calculated:
lWUE
, given byiWUE = An / E
Cia_ratio
, given byCia_ratio = Ci / Ca
drawdown_sw
, given bydrawdown_sw = H2Oi - H2Oa
(this is the drawdown of water vapor across the stomata)iWUE
, given byiWUE = An / gsw
g_ratio
, given byg_ratio = gmc / gsw
drawdown_ct
, given bydrawdown_ct = Ca - Cc
(this is the total drawdown of CO2 from the ambient air to the chloroplast)
Note: g_ratio
and drawdown_ct
are only calculated if
calculate_c3
is TRUE
.
Value
An exdf
object based on exdf_obj
that includes the quantities
listed above, along with their units. The category of each of these new
columns is calculate_wue
to indicate that it was created using this
function.
Examples
# Read an example Licor file included in the PhotoGEA package and calculate the
# water use efficiency.
licor_file <- read_gasex_file(
PhotoGEA_example_file_path('ball_berry_1.xlsx')
)
licor_file <- calculate_total_pressure(licor_file)
licor_file <- calculate_gas_properties(licor_file)
licor_file <- set_variable(
licor_file,
'gmc',
'mol m^(-2) s^(-1) bar^(-1)',
value = 0.5
)
licor_file <- apply_gm(licor_file)
licor_file <- calculate_wue(licor_file, calculate_c3 = TRUE)
licor_file$units$iWUE # View the units of the new `iWUE` column
#> [1] "micromol CO2 / mol H2O"
licor_file$categories$iWUE # View the category of the new `iWUE` column
#> [1] "calculate_wue"
licor_file[, 'iWUE'] # View the values of the new `iWUE` column
#> [1] 91.19402 75.52585 90.68321 106.78757 78.24615 66.21068 33.68671
#> [8] 52.19154 54.09650 58.52669 39.81239 57.99448 49.35733 33.84908
#> [15] 68.74848 53.75126 51.55032 56.41271 40.15597 92.38880 45.67573
#> [22] 102.10911 97.68654 89.89394 72.98826 54.17163 58.44461 94.55687