SoilTreeAtmosphere Water Relations InTech（InTech SoilTreeAtmosphere水关系的哲理）.pdf

8 Soil-Tree-Atmosphere Water Relations Kemachandra Ranatunga Bureau of Meteorology, Canberra Australia 1. Introduction A process model of the soil-tree-atmosphere continuum, which treats the plant physiology, eco-physiology and vegetation structures in detail, needs to describe the dynamics of the water flow within this continuum. The concept of a soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (SPAC) (Philip, 1966) was first described by Huber (1924). In such a continuum, the removal of water lowers the water potential in the leaves of the plant, and water moves in the direction of decreasing potential through a continuous liquid pathway extending from the soil through the plant to the leaves. Water uptake, transpiration, radiative transfer and sensible heat exchange are the most important processes in a soil-tree-atmosphere continuum for water relations. Biophysical exchanges of radiative energy, sensible heat and water vapor in the canopy as well as soil water dynamics and soil and root resistances are physically and physiologically interrelated processes. In order to model biophysical exchanges between canopies and the atmosphere, it is necessary to integrate these processes. The root system and soil-water dynamics are very important in below-ground water transport. Therefore, the integration of soil and root resistances into the soil-tree-atmosphere continuum is necessary to estimate the water uptake by roots. In order