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2) Decreased relative humidity outside the leaf will increase the water potential gradient. Relative humidity: Drier surroundings give a steeper water potential gradient, and so increase the rate of transpiration. Wind: In still air, water lost due to transpiration can accumulate in the form of vapor close to the leaf surface.
Humidity affects the energy budget and thereby influences temperatures in two major ways. First, water vapor in the atmosphere contains "latent" energy. During transpiration or evaporation, this latent heat is removed from surface liquid, cooling the Earth's surface. This is the biggest non-radiative cooling effect at the surface.
Humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air. The vapor content of air is measured with devices known as hygrometers. The measurements are usually expressed as specific humidity or percent relative humidity. The temperatures of the atmosphere and the water surface determine the equilibrium vapor pressure; 100% relative humidity occurs when ...
Ecophysiology (from Greek οἶκος, oikos, "house(hold)"; φύσις, physis, "nature, origin"; and -λογία, -logia), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism's physiology to environmental conditions.
Transpiration is a larger component of evapotranspiration (relative to evaporation) in vegetation-abundant areas. [14] As a result, denser vegetation, like forests, may increase evapotranspiration and reduce water yield. Two exceptions to this are cloud forests and rainforests. In cloud forests, trees collect the liquid water in fog or low ...
If all the other factors influencing humidity remain constant, at ground level the relative humidity rises as the temperature falls; this is because less vapor is needed to saturate the air. In normal conditions, the dew point temperature will not be greater than the air temperature, since relative humidity typically [5] does not exceed 100%. [6]
When the two tendencies are in balance— and the air and food are stable—the air's relative humidity (expressed as a fraction instead of as a percentage) is taken to be the water activity, a w. Thus, water activity is the thermodynamic activity of water as solvent and the relative humidity of the surrounding air at equilibrium.
Osmotic absorption becomes more important during times of low water transpiration caused by lower temperatures (for example at night) or high humidity, and the reverse occurs under high temperature or low humidity. It is these processes that cause guttation and wilting, respectively. [66] [67] Root extension is vital for plant survival.