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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #383782
Research Project: Integrated Disease Management of Exotic and Emerging Plant Diseases of Horticultural Crops

Location: Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Research Unit

Title: Adaption and validation of a voxel based energy transport model for conifer species

Author
item MOODY, MATTHEW - University Of Utah
item BAILEY, BRIAN - University Of California, Davis
item PARDYJAK, ERIC - University Of Utah
item Mahaffee, Walter - Walt
item STOLL, ROB - University Of Utah

Submitted to: Urban Climate
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/18/2021
Publication Date: 9/3/2021
Citation: Moody, M.J., Bailey, B.N., Pardyjak, E., Mahaffee, W.F., Stoll, R. 2021. Adaption and validation of a voxel based energy transport model for conifer species. Urban Climate. 39. Article 100967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100967.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100967

Interpretive Summary: Improved ability to predict plant disease development and dispersion require biophysical models for predicting plant growth and how leaf and branch geometry impact light interception and energy (e.g. heat and turbulence) transport. This research uses terrestrial Light Detection and Ranging to characterize conifer geometry and high resolution meteorological sensors to examine how light interception impacts temperature, sap flow and leaf evapotransportation and compares these results to models describing the same parameters for deciduous trees. These results were then used to refine plant energy transport models to aide in our long term goal of improved prediction of plant growth, water use and irrigation needs, effectiveness of wind breaks as barriers to insect and pathogen dispersion, and suitability of leaf tissue for disease development. These refined models will aid in the development of more realistic computer simulation environments that can be used to explore how agriculture practices such as wind breaks impact pest and disease movement and allow producers to rationally design windbreaks to their site.

Technical Abstract: In order, to further develop models for energy transport in urban environments and plant canopies, we present new analyses of experimental field data taken in and around two Blue Spruce (Picea pungens) trees at the University of Utah in 2015. An array of sensors was placed in and around the conifers to quantify transport in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum; radiative fluxes, temperature, sap fluxes, moisture fluxes, and wind velocities. A spatial array of LEMS (Local Energy Measurement Systems) were deployed to obtain measurements needed to calculate the radiative and turbulent fluxes. A spatially-explicit energy balance model previously developed for deciduous trees was extended to account for physical differences in conifer species. These differences include the emission and scattering of radiation in needles vs leaves as well as the boundary-layer conductance for needles. The model was validated through an examination of the full energy budget utilizing radiative and turbulent fluxes as the forcing inputs for two separate isolated Picea pungens in a heterogeneous urban environment. The agreement between model and experimental data was further improved by inclusion of surrounding surface heterogeneity. The model performed quite well with R^2 values above 0.94 for calculated vs measured integrated quantities.