Service description

The Plant Ecophysiology and Water Management Service of the Desertification Research Centre (CIDE) is the centre's first scientific-technical service, and its mission is to carry out a series of ecophysiological measurements on plants and determine the water requirements of crops in order to optimise water use. Ecophysiological variables help us understand how plants interact with their environment, responding to environmental factors such as drought, heat waves, or light. Their application is useful in crop management to optimise irrigation and other management practices, as well as to design ecosystem restoration strategies and predict the effects of climate change on agricultural crop yields.

The Service offers ecophysiological determinations of plants and crops, as well as quantifications of their water requirements aimed at determining their water and carbon footprints. Many of the services offered by the Service encompass the most common variables taken into account in research projects on topics related to agronomy and ecology. Within this framework, the following services are offered: leaf and stem water potential; gas exchange (stomatal conductance and chlorophyll fluorescence); measurement of crop and soil temperature with IRT sensors; continuous measurement of soil water content; continuous measurement of sap flow; use of data loggers; crop tracking and monitoring using vegetation indices with remote data; advice on ecophysiology determinations; crop evapotranspiration measurement; water and carbon footprint calculation; advice on irrigation management.

Services are provided to different CIDE research groups, such as: Sustainable agriculture and study of the effect of fire on soil; Water & Crops; Mutualism in plant communities; Evolutionary ecology and disturbances; Evolution of ecological interactions; and Climate variability. In addition, it serves other CSIC centres, non-CSIC centres in joint centres, other public research organisations and universities, as well as other external clients and private companies.

The scientific director of the Service is Ramón López-Urrea, a CSIC research scientist with more than 25 years of experience in determining plant water relations and measuring evapotranspiration. At the technical level, two CSIC technicians participate in the Service: Antonio Yeves Carrascosa, a specialist technician with extensive technical expertise in the determinations carried out by the Service, and Susana Pallarés Porcar, a senior technician with extensive experience in analytical services.

Features

• Measurement of leaf/stem water potential.

• Measurement of gas exchange in leaves with a porometer.

• Continuous measurement of crop and soil temperature with IRT sensors.

• Measurement of crop and soil temperature with handheld IRT sensors.

• Continuous measurement of soil water content.

• Continuous measurement of sap flow in woody crops.

• Use of data loggers for data storage in the field.

• Installation, data management and maintenance of data loggers.

• Crop tracking and monitoring using vegetation indices with remote data.

• Advice on ecophysiology determinations.

• Continuous measurement of crop evapotranspiration with the LI-710 sensor.

• Calculation of water footprint and water use efficiency.

• Calculation of carbon footprint using the ClimaTree model.

• Advice on irrigation management.

Rates

2025 Rates

Service Request

Request (Word document)

Note: Once you have downloaded the Word document and completed the request, send it to the contact email address along with any additional documentation required.

Contact

Email: servicioecofisiologia-agua@cide.csic.es

Plant Ecophysiology and Water Management Service

Desertification Research Centre (CIDE), CSIC-UV-GVA

Carretera CV-315, km 10.7, 46113-Moncada, Valencia

Tel. +34 963 42 41 62

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