Resumen de Near-Real Time Forest Health Monitoring Using Ecophysiological Sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT). A Study Case for Water Stress in Sustainable Poplar Plantations

I. Grisales Sanchez, R. Arthus Bacovich, Fernando Castedo Dorado, J. Garnica López, María Flor Álvarez Taboada

• Having a damage/stress detection and monitoring system in semi-real time will allow a quantitative improvement in the poplar (Populus spp.) sector, from the point of view of sustainable and responsible wood production. The aim of this work was to develop a near-real-time system for monitoring water stress in poplar clone plantations using the sap flow density measured by ecophysiological sensors and transmitted by the Internet of Things (IoT). Results showed a high correlation between the sap flow density and the growth in diameter measured weekly in the field for trees under water stress (Pearson’s r > 0.81) and confirmed the suitability of this variable as an early warning indicator of damage to poplars due to water stress. In an early warning system for water stress, an average sap flux density value of 0.7–0.8 between 12 and 3 pm could be used as a threshold, since sap density fluxes under that value have showed weekly growth values of zero or close to zero.