Spectral ecophysiology: hyperspectral pressure–volume curves to estimate leaf turgor loss

• Published in: The New phytologist Vol. 242; no. 3; pp. 935 - 946
• Main Authors: Castillo‐Argaez, Raiza, Sapes, Gerard, Mallen, Nicole, Lippert, Alston, John, Grace P., Zare, Alina, Hammond, William M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.05.2024
• Subjects: Climate change; Drought; Drought resistance; Ecophysiology; Environmental impact; Estimation; Health risks; leaf traits; leaf water content; Leaves; Mathematical models; Moisture content; Mortality risk; Plant water; Plants; Plants (botany); Reflectance; Regression analysis; Regression models; sensing; Spectral reflectance; Turgor; Water content; Water potential; Water relations; sensing; water potential; water relations; drought; spectral reflectance; leaf water content; climate change; leaf traits
• ISSN: 0028-646X; 1469-8137
• DOI: 10.1111/nph.19669

Summary Turgor loss point (TLP) is an important proxy for plant drought tolerance, species habitat suitability, and drought‐induced plant mortality risk. Thus, TLP serves as a critical tool for evaluating climate change impacts on plants, making it imperative to develop high‐throughput and in situ methods to measure TLP. We developed hyperspectral pressure–volume curves (PV curves) to estimate TLP using leaf spectral reflectance. We used partial least square regression models to estimate water potential (Ψ) and relative water content (RWC) for two species, Frangula caroliniana and Magnolia grandiflora. RWC and Ψ's model for each species had R2 ≥ 0.7 and %RMSE = 7–10. We constructed PV curves with model estimates and compared the accuracy of directly measured and spectra‐predicted TLP. Our findings indicate that leaf spectral measurements are an alternative method for estimating TLP. F. caroliniana TLP's values were −1.62 ± 0.15 (means ± SD) and −1.62 ± 0.34 MPa for observed and reflectance predicted, respectively (P > 0.05), while M. grandiflora were −1.78 ± 0.34 and −1.66 ± 0.41 MPa (P > 0.05). The estimation of TLP through leaf reflectance‐based PV curves opens a broad range of possibilities for future research aimed at understanding and monitoring plant water relations on a large scale with spectral ecophysiology.