Dendrometer

Dendrometers are instruments for continuous measurement of plant growth (changes of the plant diameter). Data of dendrometer document the reactions of plants to environment in high temporal resolution.

In ecophysiological research environmental parameters are measured hourly or shorter. The plant parameters such as yield, biomass and tree rings are only available annually. It is quite difficult to compare hourly data with annual data. Significance of such cause-effect studies on different time scales is limited.

Dendrometer allows us to record the plant parameters at the same time interval, such as environmental parameters. The data therefore permit the direct assignment of plant responses to environmental influences. Dendrometer are therefore a cost-effective and useful tool for ecophysiological studies.

Applications

■ Monitoring of the growth processes of plants

■ Monitoring the water status of plants

■ Examination of the influence of environmental factors on plant growth

■ Precise dating of the beginning and end of growing season

■ Precise determination of the point of frost events

■ Estimation of the water content in plants (in combination with sap flow measurement the transpiration can be calculated continuously)
■ Irrigation control

■ Monitoring and investigation of the stability of road and park trees or branches

Growth curve of a mature spruce tree during 3 years measurement with a DR dendrometer

Advantages

■ Protected by several patented techniques

■ Low power consumption, as more than two years records only with an internal battery

■ More than 15 years of worldwide use (polar regions, tropical, high mountain)

■ Resolution up to 0.2 microns (depending on data logger)

■ Temperature effect compensated

■ Large selection for different measurement requirements: radius, diameter, circumference, fruit, vegetables, vertical changes
■ Compatible with all popular data loggers (eg. Campbell, Delta-T, Datataker). ECOMATIK provides a specially designed Dendrometer logger, which runs on an internal battery more than two years, and has a resolution of up to 0.2 microns.
 

Available Models