Raspberry Pi–powered temperature monitoring of growth chamber microclimates

Abstract

Premise

While controlled environments are desirable for growing and measuring plants, growth chambers and greenhouses typically have microclimates that impact plant growth, development, and stress responses. Furthermore, opening and closing the doors of a controlled environment introduces variation in the environment, especially at temperature extremes, affecting both the measurements and the organisms within. Using multiple temperature data loggers to normalize results can be cost-prohibitive and rarely offers real-time feedback on temperature status.

Methods and Results

We used low-cost single-board computers, cameras, and temperature sensors to manage and capture growth chamber temperatures while acquiring plant image data. Detailed here are methods to document microclimates within a growth chamber so that data can be normalized to measured temperature information.

Conclusions

This protocol describes a low-cost method for automated temperature monitoring, which enables both high-throughput measurements of temperature along with plant growth and stress responses via plant imaging.