architect(inputrac=NULL, inputtps=NULL, inputrsml=NULL, res=NULL, unitlength="px", rsml.date=NULL, rsml.connect=FALSE, rootdiv=1)inputtps/inputrsml.inputrac/inputrsml.inputrac/inputtps.unitlength="mm" or unitlength="cm".is.null(inputrsml)=FALSE. This argument specifies the root system age (the unit of time is defined by the user) and will be used only for RSA data encoded with the Root System Markup Language.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).architect will also compute the distribution of the secondary root number, length and density on the first-order root.inputrac/inputrsml.The data frame contains the following columns: FileName (the name of the rac/rsml files), Time (the root system age expressed in the same unit (=unittime) as in the tps file(s) (for rac files) or in the same unit as rsml.date (for rsml files)), TRL (the total root system length expressed in unitlength), GRTR (the growth rate of the root system expressed in unitlength/unittime), L1R (the first-order root length expressed in unitlength), GR1R (the growth rate of the first-order root expressed in unitlength/unittime), TNLR (the total number of lateral roots), TLRL (the total lateral root length expressed in unitlength), NxLR (the total number of lateral roots with a branching order equal to x), LxLR (the total length of lateral roots with a branching order equal to x expressed in unitlength), MLxLR (the mean length of lateral roots with a branching order equal to x expressed in unitlength), GRxL (the growth rate of lateral roots with a branching order equal to x expressed in unitlength/unittime), D2LR (the density of secondary roots on the first-order root expressed in root(s)/unitlength).If rootdiv is a numeric value > 1, the following columns will be added to the data frame: N2LR.LayerX (the secondary root number in layer X), L2LR.LayerX (the total secondary root length in layer X expressed in unitlength), D2LR.LayerX (the secondary root density on the first-order root in the layer X expressed in root(s)/unitlength).If rootdiv is a vector of numeric values, the following columns will be added to the data frame: N2LR.XtoY (the secondary root number in a layer delimited by X and Y on the first-order root), L2LR.XtoY (the total secondary root length in a layer delimited by X and Y on the first-order root expressed in unitlength), D2LR.XtoY (the secondary root density in a layer delimited by X and Y on the first-order root expressed in root(s)/unitlength).
Le Bot et al (2010) presented a free and open-access software (Data Analysis of Root Tracings - DART) allowing the analysis of complex RSA from captured images, particularly across time series. Using this software, a user has to manually identify roots as a set of links. After vectorization of a root system, a final dataset can be exported as a table file (rac file) containing several attributes for each individual root, notably the root length at each observation date. A second table file (tps file) containing the root system age at each observation date can also be exported from DART. These two datasets can finally be used to calculate derived RSA traits. In this context, architect is an R function allowing the calculation of common RSA traits at each observation date for each DART rac file: the total root system length, the length of the first-order root, the total number of lateral roots, the total lateral root length, the length and the number of lateral roots for each branching order, the mean lateral root length for each branching order, the density of secondary roots on the first-order root, the first-order and the lateral root growth rates, as well as the growth rate of the entire root system. When needed, the distribution of the secondary root number, length and density on the first-order root can also be calculated (via rootdiv).
The architect function will successively locate and read the rac and tps files created by DART and calculate RSA traits. First, architect will check if all arguments have been written in the suitable mode. If res is specified, the function will check if the numeric value required by this argument is positive. The function will also automatically check if the numeric elements in rootdiv are superior or equal to zero 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 inputrac and inputtps to locate and read the raw rac and tps files created by DART, respectively. To run architect efficiently, DART files must have been saved with their appropriate extensions (.rac or .tps). Third, the function will create vectors and matrices for RSA traits calculation. If inputtps contains a single tps file, this will be used by architect for each rac file located in inputrac. If inputtps contains more than one tps file, the number of tps files in inputtps must be equal to the number of rac files in inputrac and corresponding rac and tps files must have the same name. If an error occurs at this step, a message will be returned by the function.
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 architect efficiently, rsml files must have been saved with their appropriate extensions (.rsml). If is.null(inputrsml)=FALSE, architect will check if rsml.date and rsml.connect are 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 rac files created by DART. The architect function will then use these data frames to calculate RSA traits describing the global architecture of each root system. The argument rsml.date will be used to create a tps file for each root system located in inputrsml. 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. If rsml.connect=FALSE or rsml.connect=TRUE, the distance between a branching point and the parent root base (DBase) will be approximated by the distance between the point located on the mother root that is closest to the point starting a lateral root and the parent root base. 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 RSA traits.
Growth rates are calculated as follows:
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.
## Importation of example datasets
data(ch7rac)
data(ch7tps)
## Creation of a folder (DART_architect) inside a temporary directory to contain the rac and tps
## example datasets created by DART
dirDART <- paste(tempdir(), "/DART_architect", sep="")
dir.create(dirDART)
## Definition of the number of rac and tps files that will be saved inside dirDART
n <- 2
## Creation of rac and tps files inside dirDART
for (i in 1:n) {
write.table(ch7rac, file=paste(dirDART,"/ch7_",i,".rac", sep=""), row.names=FALSE)
write.table(ch7tps, file=paste(dirDART,"/ch7_",i,".tps", sep=""), row.names=FALSE)}
## Use of architect to compute RSA parameters from DART output files
## rootdiv=1
ch7_output_2 <- architect(inputrac=dirDART, inputtps=dirDART, res=75, unitlength="cm")
## Use of the rootdiv argument to compute the distribution of the secondary root number, length
## and density in the [0-15[, [15-30[, [30-45[ and [45-60[ first centimeters of the first-order
## root
ch7_output_3 <- architect(inputrac=dirDART, inputtps=dirDART, res=75, unitlength="cm",
rootdiv=c(0,15,30,45,60))
unlink(dirDART, recursive=TRUE)
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