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Plant Control on Evapotranspiration: Models and Measurements

  • Conference paper
The Role of Water and the Hydrological Cycle in Global Change

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASII,volume 31))

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Summary

Plants play a dominating role in the evaporation of water from terrestrial systems. They act as a bridging mechanism in the transfer of water from soil to atmosphere. They thus lower the surface resistance to vapour exchange.

The Penman-Monteith combination equation is capable of describing the evaporation at the earth’s surface on the basis of the available energy, the meteorological conditions at some reference height — air temperature and vapour deficit — and two resistance parameters. It is applicable to almost any surface, at landscape scale and at leaf scale as well. It is sometimes used in simplified forms, such as the Priestly-Taylor equation. It can also be used as part of comprehensive multi layer models which can describe stomatal behaviour as function of environmental factors, micro-meteorological exchange within plant canopies or vertical patterns of soil water uptake and feed back mechanisms upon drought. Different modelling aims and different temporal and spatial scales generate the need for different model complexity.

Three types of models with different complexity are evaluated: Single Big Leaf models, SPAC models (Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum) and Multi Layer models. Some soil water uptake models are also presented. Finally, rainfall interception models are discussed as the interception evaporation can be as high as half the precipitation amount and more than the transpiration on a yearly basis.

Several techniques are discussed for measuring the evaporation at different spatial scales including meteorological techniques to determine vapour fluxes above the canopy, the measurement of sap flow in plants, and the measurement of components of the water balance. Special attention is paid to the usefulness of these techniques in parametrizing and validating the various models.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Landscape and Environmental Research Group, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Willem Bouten

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  1. Willem Bouten
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrology, OX10 8BB, Wallingford, UK

    Howard R. Oliver

  2. Chalgrove, OX44 7SS, Oxford, UK

    Sylvia A. Oliver

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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bouten, W. (1995). Plant Control on Evapotranspiration: Models and Measurements. In: Oliver, H.R., Oliver, S.A. (eds) The Role of Water and the Hydrological Cycle in Global Change. NATO ASI Series, vol 31. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79830-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79830-6_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-79832-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-79830-6

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