Premise of the StudyFine-scale variation in temperature and soil moisture contribute to microhabitats across the landscape, affecting plant phenology, distribution, and fitness.The recent availability of compact and inexpensive temperature and humidity data loggers such as iButtons has facilitated research on microclimates.
Methods and ResultsHere, we highlight the use of iButtons in three distinct settings: comparisons of empirical data to modeled climate data for rare rock ferns in the genus Asplenium in eastern North America;generation of fine-scale data to predict flowering time and vernalization responsiveness of crop wild relatives of chickpea from southeastern Anatolia; and measurements of extreme thermal variation of solar array installations in Vermont.
DiscussionWe highlight a range of challenges with iButtons, including serious limitations of the Hygrochron function that affect their utility for measuring soil moisture, and methods for protecting them from the elements and from human interference. Finally, we provide MATLAB code to facilitate the processing of raw iButton data.
1.Univ Vermont, Dept Plant Biol, Pringle Herbarium, 63 Carrigan Dr, Burlington, VT 05401 USA 2.Hampshire Coll, Biol & Life Sci, 893 West St, Amherst, MA 01002 USA 3.Florida Int Univ, Biol Sci, 11200 SW 8th St,CP 304, Miami, FL 33199 USA 4.Harran Univ, Dept Field Crops, Sanliurfa Mardin Karayolu Uzeri 18 Km, TR-63300 Sanliurfa, Turkey 5.Univ Michigan, Herbarium, 3600 Vars Dr, Ann Arbor, MI 48108 USA 6.Univ Vermont, Dept Plant & Soil Sci, 63 Carrigan Dr, Burlington, VT 05401 USA
Recommended Citation:
Fawcett, Susan,Sistla, Seeta,Dacosta-Calheiros, Manny,et al. Tracking microhabitat temperature variation with iButton data loggers[J]. APPLICATIONS IN PLANT SCIENCES,2019-01-01,7(4)