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To our knowledge, there is no information on the canopy conductance of Cryptomeria japonica plantations, although such forests are very common in Japan. We examined the canopy conductance Gc of a C. japonica plantation based on 1-year sap-flow data using the simplified Penman-Monteith equation. After selecting data based on the criterion proposed in part 1 of this study (Komatsu et al., 2006. Hydrological Processes 20: this issue), we now examine Gc responses to meteorological factors. Gc was expressed using functions of solar radiation S (W m-2), the vapour pressure deficit D (kPa), and air temperature T (°C). The resulting functions were f1(S) = [(1000 + 30)S]/[1000(S + 30)], f2(D) = exp(-0.54D)/exp(-0.54), and f3(T) = {[(30 - 5) + 14](T - 5)}/{(30 - 5)[(T - 5) + 14]), where f1(S), f2(D), and f3(T) are functions expressing the Gc responses to S, D, and T respectively. The functions were characterized by comparing general functions for coniferous forests, which showed that it was necessary to consider f3(T) to reproduce the 1-year transpiration at the site, and that f1(S) and f2(D) determined here were not very different from the general functions. This paper is the first to determine Gc responses to meteorological factors for a C. japonica plantation. When predicting transpiration from a C. japonica plantation using hydrological or ecological models, the functions determined here should be used instead of the default functions of the models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To our knowledge, no one has examined the canopy conductance of a Cryptomeria japonica plantation, although such forests are very common in Japan. We plan to examine the canopy conductance of a Cryptomeria japonica plantation (canopy height 8 m) based on 1-year sap-flow data using the simplified Penman-Monteith equation. This study examines the effect of the aerodynamic control of transpiration before calculating canopy conductance using the simplified Penman-Monteith equation, because the equation assumes that the effect of aerodynamic control is negligible. To examine the effect of aerodynamic control, we examined the dependency of the relationship between the vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and transpiration on wind speed, when solar radiation, air temperature, and soil water content do not limit transpiration greatly. The relationship between VPD and the heat pulse velocity measured 11 m above the ground was dependent on wind speed only when the wind speed was < 0.7 m s-1. This suggests that the effect of aerodynamic control was negligible when the wind speed was < 0.7 m s-1, but that the effect was not negligible when the wind speed was < 0.7 m s-1. Therefore, we should use data from when the wind speed was ≥ 0.7 m s-1 for calculating canopy conductance Gc, based on the simplified Penman-Monteith equation. Although this criterion is site specific, the methods used to develop it are applicable to other sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]