Editorial: The Green Side of the Water Cycle: New Advances in the Study of Plant Water Dynamics
Ferrio Juan Pedro, Dubbert Maren, Máguas Cristina. 2020. Editorial: The Green Side of the Water Cycle: New Advances in the Study of Plant Water Dynamics. Frontiers in Plant Science 11, 1370 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2020.582846
Dynamics within the water cycle is a crucial topic under current climate change conditions. To understand terrestrial ecosystems and their role in the water cycle, we need to characterize the uptake, storage and transport of water along the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Assessing these processes is still challenging due to the trade-off between the uncertainty of upscaling approaches and the complexity of in situ direct measurements. In this Research Topic, we integrated the information available from multiple disciplines, from plant hydraulics to economy, going through material science and biomolecular techniques, covering a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Although far from a comprehensive compilation of methods, we gathered new conceptual approaches and applications, with a particular focus on continuous-monitoring methods. Bearing in mind the highly dynamic nature of soil-plant-atmosphere interactions, the techniques presented here are likely to foster our knowledge on the mechanism and regulation of plant water use. Besides the application to plant ecophysiology and precision agriculture, on-line sensing of the “green side” of the water cycle is needed to fine-tune ecohydrological models, e.g. to anticipate plant responses to climate change, and their implications for land water resources.
Dynamics within the water cycle is a crucial topic under current climate change conditions. To understand terrestrial ecosystems and their role in the water cycle, we need to characterize the uptake, storage and transport of water along the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Assessing these processes is still challenging due to the trade-off between the uncertainty of upscaling approaches and the complexity of in situ direct measurements. In this Research Topic, we integrated the information available from multiple disciplines, from plant hydraulics to economy, going through material science and biomolecular techniques, covering a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Although far from a comprehensive compilation of methods, we gathered new conceptual approaches and applications, with a particular focus on continuous-monitoring methods. Bearing in mind the highly dynamic nature of soil-plant-atmosphere interactions, the techniques presented here are likely to foster our knowledge on the mechanism and regulation of plant water use. Besides the application to plant ecophysiology and precision agriculture, on-line sensing of the “green side” of the water cycle is needed to fine-tune ecohydrological models, e.g. to anticipate plant responses to climate change, and their implications for land water resources.