archiDART (version 1.4)

archidraw: X-Y Plotting of Vectorized Root Systems

Description

X-Y plotting of vectorized root systems for selected observation dates using Data Analysis of Root Tracings (DART) output files and RSA data encoded with the Root System Markup Language (RSML). More information can be found in Delory et al (2016).

Usage

archidraw(inputlie=NULL, inputrsml=NULL, res=NULL, unitlength="px", unitangle="d",  rotation=0, rsml.connect=FALSE, numdate=NULL, finalscale=NULL, coldate=par("col"), ltydate=par("lty"), lwddate=par("lwd"),  main=NULL, xlab=NULL, ylab=NULL, xlim=NULL, ylim=NULL, ...)

Arguments

inputlie

A character string specifying the path to the folder containing the lie files created by DART. This argument could be the same as inputrsml.

inputrsml

A character string specifying the path to the folder containing the rsml files. This argument could be the same as inputlie.

res

If images were acquired with a flatbed scanner: a numeric value specifying the resolution of the images used to vectorize the root systems (resolution is expressed in dots/inch). If images were acquired with a digital camera: the ratio between the length of a reference object located on the image expressed in pixels and the actual length of the same object expressed in inches. This argument must be specified only if unitlength="mm" or unitlength="cm".

unitlength

A character string specifying the unit of length that must be used by the function to scale the X and Y axes of the graphical outputs. The value acceptable for this argument could be either “px” for pixels, “cm” for centimetres or “mm” for millimetres.

unitangle

A character string specifying the unit that must be used by the function to express the calculated angles. The value acceptable for this argument could be either “d” for degrees (default value) or “r” for radians.

rotation

A numeric value specifying the angle (expressed in unitangle) that must be used by the function to perform a clockwise rotation of the root system.

rsml.connect

A logical value that must be specified when is.null(inputrsml)=FALSE. This argument will be used only for RSA data encoded with the Root System Markup Language. If TRUE, the lateral roots will be connected to their parent root if no connection information can be found in the rsml file(s) (see details). If FALSE, no connection will be made between daughter and mother roots if no connection information can be found in the rsml file(s).

numdate

A numeric value or a vector of numeric values specifying the identification number of all the observation dates at which the root system architecture must be plotted (see details).

finalscale

A logical value that must be specified when is.null(numdate)=FALSE. If TRUE, the root system architecture at the selected observation dates will be plotted with the same X and Y-axis scales to that used to draw the root system architecture at the last observation date. If FALSE, the root system architecture at each observation date will be plotted using different X and Y-axis ranges of coordinates (xlim and ylim).

coldate

A vector specifying the colour(s) that must be used to draw the root system architecture at the selected observation dates (see details).

ltydate

A vector specifying the line type(s) that must be used to draw the root system architecture at the selected observation dates (see details).

lwddate

A vector specifying the line width(s) that must be used to draw the root system architecture at the selected observation dates (see details).

main

A character string giving a main title for the plot. When is.null(main)=TRUE, the default title for each plot is the name of the corresponding lie/rsml file.

xlab

A character string giving a label for the X axis. When is.null(xlab)=TRUE, the default label for the X axis is X (unitlength).

ylab

A character string giving a label for the Y axis. When is.null(ylab)=TRUE, the default label for the Y axis is Y (unitlength).

xlim

A numeric vector (length=2) giving the X limits of the plot using the same unit as unitlength.

ylim

A numeric vector (length=2) giving the Y limits of the plot using the same unit as unitlength.

...

Additional graphical parameters (see details).

Value

inputlie/inputrsml.

Details

Le Bot et al (2010) presented a free and open-access software (Data Analysis of Root Tracings - DART) allowing the analysis of complex root system architectures from captured images, particularly across time series. Using this software, a user has to manually identify roots as a set of links. At the end of the vectorization process, a final dataset can be exported as a table file (lie file) containing several attributes for each point used to construct the links constituting the vectorized root system. Using these lie files created by DART, archidraw allows the X-Y plotting of vectorized root systems for selected observation dates.

The archidraw function will locate and read the lie files created by DART and plot the vectorization results at selected observation dates for each analysed root system. First, archidraw will check if all arguments have been written in the suitable mode. If res and rotation are specified, the function will check if the numeric values required by these arguments are positive. If is.null(numdate)=FALSE, the function will also automatically check if the numeric values in numdate are positive and sorted by increasing values. If an error occurs for one argument, the code stops and the corresponding error message will be returned by the function. Second, the function will use inputlie to locate and read the raw lie files created by DART. To run archidraw efficiently, DART files must have been saved with their appropriate extensions (.lie). Finally, archidraw will plot each vectorized root system located in inputlie at the observation dates specified by numdate. By default (when is.null(numdate)=TRUE), only the root system architecture at the last observation date will be plotted. If is.null(numdate)=FALSE, archidraw will plot only the root system architecture for the selected observation dates. If the number of elements specified in coldate/ltydate/lwddate is lower than max(Date) in the lie files (if is.null(numdate)=TRUE) or max(numdate) (if is.null(numdate)=FALSE), archidraw will replicate the elements stored in coldate/ltydate/lwddate to draw the vectorization results. When the number of elements specified in coldate/ltydate/lwddate is greater than max(Date) in the lie files (if is.null(numdate)==TRUE) or max(numdate) (if is.null(numdate)=FALSE), only the first corresponding elements in coldate/ltydate/lwddate will be used by archidraw to plot the root system architecture for each file located in inputlie.

If RSA data have been encoded with the Root System Markup Language (Lobet et al, 2015), the path to the folder containing the rsml files can be specified using the inputrsml argument. To run archidraw efficiently, rsml files must have been saved with their appropriate extensions (.rsml). If is.null(inputrsml)=FALSE, archidraw will check if rsml.connect is specified and written in the suitable mode. After reading the rsml files located in inputrsml, the RSA data associated with one root system in each rsml file will be converted into a data frame possessing the same structure as the lie files created by DART. The archidraw function will then use these data frames to plot the root system architectures encoded with the RSML format. As some rsml files do not provide connection information between daughter and mother roots, the rsml.connect argument can be used to connect the lateral roots to their corresponding mother root. If rsml.connect=TRUE, each point starting a lateral root will be connected to the nearest point located on its mother root. Using rsml files, only RSA data associated with roots possessing a branching order lower or equal to 5 will be used for the computation of graphical outputs.

Due to technical limitations, it is sometimes easier to take a picture of a root system if it is rotated before image acquisition. In this case, the vectorized root system will depict a rotation compared with the natural plant root system. In order to make a correction, one can use rotation to specify an angle value expressed in unitangle that will be used by the function to rotate the vectorized root system clockwise before plotting.

Additional graphical parameters can also be used to personalize the graphical outputs (see par).

References

Delory B.M., Baudson C., Brostaux Y., Lobet G., du Jardin P., Pages L., Delaplace P. (2016) archiDART: an R package for the automated computation of plant root architectural traits, Plant and Soil, DOI: 10.1007/s11104-015-2673-4.

Le Bot J., Serra V., Fabre J., Draye X., Adamowicz S., Pages L. (2010) DART: a software to analyse root system architecture and development from captured images, Plant and Soil, DOI: 10.1007/s11104-009-0005-2.

Lobet G., Pound M.P., Diener J., Pradal C., Draye X., Godin C., Javaux M., Leitner D., Meunier F., Nacry P., Pridmore T.P., Schnepf A. (2015) Root System Markup Language: Toward a Unified Root Architecture Description Language, Plant Physiology, DOI: 10.1104/pp.114.253625.

See Also

par.

Examples

## Importation of an example dataset
data(ch7lie)

## Creation of a folder (called DART_archidraw) inside a temporary directory to contain lie 
## example datasets created by DART
dirDART <- paste(tempdir(), "/DART_archidraw", sep="")
dir.create(dirDART)

## Definition of the number of lie files that will be saved inside dirDART 
n <- 1

## Creation of lie files inside dirDART
for (i in 1:n) {
write.table(ch7lie, file=paste(dirDART,"/ch7_",i,".lie", sep=""), row.names=FALSE)}

## Use of archidraw to plot the root system architecture in black for the last observation date
archidraw(inputlie=dirDART, res=75, unitlength="cm", lwddate=2, las=1, bty="l", asp=1,
xaxp=c(0,30,3), yaxp=c(0,90,9))


## Use of archidraw to plot the root system architecture at the last observation date 
## Use a specific colour for each link related to a single observation date
archidraw(inputlie=dirDART, res=75, unitlength="cm", coldate=rainbow(31), lwddate=2, las=1,
bty="l", asp=1, xaxp=c(0,30,3), yaxp=c(0,90,9))

## Use of archidraw to plot the root system architecture at selected observation dates 
## Use the same X and Y-axis scales to that used for the last observation date and a specific colour
## for each observation date
archidraw(inputlie=dirDART, res=75, unitlength="cm", numdate=c(15,30), finalscale=TRUE, 
coldate=rainbow(31), lwddate=2, las=1, bty="l", asp=1, xaxp=c(0,30,3), yaxp=c(0,90,9))

unlink(dirDART, recursive=TRUE)