Dynamic crop-atmosphere water feedbacks challenge isotopic equilibrium knowledge in the lower atmospheric boundary layer

Dynamic crop-atmosphere water feedbacks challenge isotopic equilibrium knowledge in the lower atmospheric boundary layer | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Dynamic crop-atmosphere water feedbacks challenge isotopic equilibrium knowledge in the lower atmospheric boundary layer Adrian Dahlmann, David Dubbert, Mathias Hoffmann, John Marshall, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9103465/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Understanding water fluxes in agricultural ecosystems is fundamental to securing food production under increasing water scarcity. This study investigates the dynamics of evapotranspiration (ET) and its stable water isotopic composition (d 18 O, d 2 H) in a heterogeneous cropland cultivated with winter oil rapeseed and winter wheat. By coupling a fully automated chamber system with high-resolution in-situ laser spectroscopy, we implemented a novel observational approach that achieved the continuous monitoring of ambient water vapor, precipitation, and ET isotopic compositions at an unprecedented temporal resolution over two growing seasons. We found the isotopic composition of ET to serve as a sensitive indicator of crop phenology and physiological response to changing environmental conditions and observed a distinct seasonal shift from evaporation-dominated to transpiration-dominated fluxes. High transpiration rates strongly affected the ambient water vapor diurnally and seasonally, challenging common ecohydrological assumptions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a data-driven Random Forest model can successfully predict the complex, non-linear dynamics of isotopic compositions using standard micrometeorological variables and easily measurable ambient water vapor compositions. We conclude that high-resolution monitoring linked with machine learning offers a robust pathway to disentangle spatio-temporal dynamics of soil-plant-atmosphere interactions and improves our ability to predict crop water dynamics under changing environmental conditions. Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Agroecology Earth and environmental sciences/Hydrology Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Stable isotope analysis Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Ecological modelling Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files reportingsummaryNCOMMS26021086.pdf Reporting Summary Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9103465","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":616180195,"identity":"97eaac0b-c95c-45ac-a364-24fd547058cb","order_by":0,"name":"Adrian 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