González-Rebeles Georgina, Alonso-Arevalo Miguel Ángel, López Eulogio, Méndez-Alonzo Rodrigo
Departamento de Biología de la Conservación, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada Carretera Ensenada Tijuana No. 3918, Zona Playitas, C.P. 22860 Ensenada Baja California Mexico.
Departamento del Hombre y su Ambiente Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Unidad Xochimilco Calzada del Hueso 1100, Colonia Villa Quietud, Alcaldía Coyoacán, C.P. 04960 Ciudad de México Mexico.
Appl Plant Sci. 2025 Mar 31;13(2):e70004. doi: 10.1002/aps3.70004. eCollection 2025 Mar-Apr.
The quantification of plant drought resistance, particularly embolism formation, within and across species, is critical for ecosystem management and agriculture. We developed a cost-effective protocol to measure the water potential at which 50% of hydraulic conductivity ( ) is lost in stems, using affordable and accessible materials in comparison to the traditional optical method.
Our protocol uses inexpensive USB microscopes, which are secured along with the plants to a pegboard base to avoid movement. A Python program automatized the image acquisition. This method was applied to quantify in an exotic species () and native species () of the Mediterranean vegetation in Baja California, Mexico.
The intra- and interspecific patterns of variation in stem of and were obtained using the low-cost optical method with widely available and affordable materials that can be easily replicated for other species.
量化植物的抗旱性，尤其是种内和种间的栓塞形成，对于生态系统管理和农业至关重要。与传统光学方法相比，我们开发了一种经济高效的方案，使用价格合理且易于获取的材料来测量茎中水力传导率丧失50%时的水势。
我们的方案使用廉价的USB显微镜，将其与植物一起固定在挂板底座上以避免移动。一个Python程序实现了图像采集的自动化。该方法被用于量化墨西哥下加利福尼亚州地中海植被的一个外来物种（）和一个本地物种（）茎中的。
使用低成本光学方法以及广泛可用且价格合理的材料，获得了和茎中种内和种间的变化模式，这些材料可轻松复制用于其他物种。
