Errors in the calculation of evaporation and leaf conductance in steady-state porometry: the importance of accurate measurement of leaf temperature

Abstract

Leaf temperatures of sugar maple leaves (Acersaccharum Marsh.) were measured over three growth seasons using in situ copper–constantan thermocouples with wire and junction diameters of 70 and 130 μm, respectively. These thermocouples were coated with a thin layer of adhesive and attached to the abaxial leaf surface over a length of 4 to 5 cm of wire. On sunny days leaf temperatures usually rose 5 to 15 °C above the air temperature. When leaf conductances and evaporative flux were measured with a Li-Cor steady-state porometer under the same conditions, similar leaf temperatures were rarely measured by the Li-Cor leaf thermocouple. We argue that the in situ thermocouple is more likely to measure the actual leaf temperature than the Li-Cor thermocouple. Consequently, the values for leaf conductance and evaporative flux computed by the Li-Cor microprocessor can be wrong by as much as a factor of 2. Errors of similar magnitude may apply to other published measurements for forest species but are not as large in many crop species.