Modeling of thermoregulation in the skunk cabbage in relation to meteorological factors

A model is proposed to calculate the spadix temperature of the skunk cabbage Symplocarpus foetidus which regulates its internal temperature at around 20 °C during the female stage even when the ambient air temperature drops below freezing. The model is based on energy balance of the spadix under field conditions. The input data are standard meteorological data and spadix parameters. The model output was compared with experimental data collected under different climate conditions. The agreement between observed and calculated spadix temperatures was fairly good.