Date of Award

12-2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Legacy Department

Plant and Environmental Science

Committee Chair/Advisor

Bauerle, William L

Committee Member

Shelburne , Victor

Committee Member

Wang , Geoff

Abstract

MAESTRA2, a species specific mechanistic model, was parameterized to estimate water use, carbon accumulation and organ specific respiration of five deciduous tree species under both irrigated and water stressed conditions. The model was validated using temporally and spatially explicit ecophysiological data to account for seasonal changes in species physiology. The following tree species: Acer rubrum L. 'Summer Red' (A. rubrum), Betula nigra (B. nigra), Paulownia elongata (P. elongata), Quercus nuttallii (Q. nuttallii), and Quercus phellos (Q. phellos) were intensively measured and organ specific destructively harvested samples were compared to modeled estimates of carbon accumulation. Among species, we observed variability in carbon dioxide exchange rates under well watered and water stressed conditions. A. rubrum carbon sequestration under water deficit was 29% less than the well watered treatment. The species other than A. rubrum were similar to each other (56%-63% less carbon sequestered as compared to the well watered). A. rubrum root biomass was higher in the drought treatment as compared to the well watered control, possibly explaining its carbon sequestration characteristics. Modeling validation results indicated that the model does have the capability to down regulate photosynthetic capacity on a per species basis. Differences between measured values and modeled estimates were within 6% for A. rubrum, 12% for B. nigra, 8% for P. elongata, 2% for Q. nuttallii, and 7% for Q. phellos. Therefore, seasonal carbon accumulation estimates adequately represented field observations in both well watered and drought treatments. Moreover, sap flux measurements confirmed the models ability to estimate diurnal gas exchange under both well watered and water stressed conditions. The work provides evidence that MAESTRA2 is a process-based model capable of accurately quantifying spatially explicit carbon dioxide exchange rates at the species level and in response to water stress.

Included in

Plant Biology Commons

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.