MECHA is an explicit cross-section model of the root hydraulic anatomy which connects hydraulic concepts across scales.
The model computes horizontal water flow at the level of individual cells, quantifies the contribution of water composite pathways, and predicts organ radial permeability (kr), using detailed anatomical descriptions and experimental data on the permeability of cell walls (kw), membranes (Lp) and the conductance of individual plasmodesmata (KPD).
MECHA was developed at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), in the Earth and Life Insititute (ELI) in the Plant Ecology, ecoPhysiology and sustainable Agriculture lab
Coordination: Valentin Couvreur.
If you use MECHA in your work, please cite:
Valentin Couvreur, Marc Faget, Guillaume Lobet, Mathieu Javaux, François Chaumont, Xavier Draye, Going with the Flow: Multiscale Insights into the Composite Nature of Water Transport in Roots, Plant Physiology, Volume 178, Issue 4, December 2018, Pages 1689–1703, https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.18.01006