A low‐cost protocol for the optical method of vulnerability curves to calculate P 50

The quantification of plant drought resistance, particularly embolism formation, within and across species, is critical for ecosystem management and agriculture. We developed a cost-effective protocol to measure the water potential at which 50% of hydraulic conductivity ( ) is lost in stems, using a...

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Published inApplications in plant sciences Vol. 13; no. 2; p. e70004
Main Authors González‐Rebeles, Georgina, Alonso‐Arevalo, Miguel Ángel, López, Eulogio, Méndez‐Alonzo, Rodrigo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States John Wiley and Sons Inc 01.03.2025
Subjects
Protocol Note
image processing
xylem tissue
cost‐effective protocols
stem water potential
percentage of embolisms accumulated
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Summary:The quantification of plant drought resistance, particularly embolism formation, within and across species, is critical for ecosystem management and agriculture. We developed a cost-effective protocol to measure the water potential at which 50% of hydraulic conductivity ( ) is lost in stems, using affordable and accessible materials in comparison to the traditional optical method. Our protocol uses inexpensive USB microscopes, which are secured along with the plants to a pegboard base to avoid movement. A Python program automatized the image acquisition. This method was applied to quantify in an exotic species ( ) and native species ( ) of the Mediterranean vegetation in Baja California, Mexico. The intra- and interspecific patterns of variation in stem of and were obtained using the low-cost optical method with widely available and affordable materials that can be easily replicated for other species.
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ISSN:2168-0450
2168-0450
DOI:10.1002/aps3.70004