💧 MECHA Streamlit App

A containerized web application for running MECHA hydraulic simulations and visualizing root cross-section anatomy. Built with Streamlit, GeoPandas, and Shapely, this app lets you interactively upload or select geometries, adjust hydraulic parameters, and run simulations.

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Features:

• Upload or use pre-loaded XML geometries (cellsetdata.xml, geometry.xml)
• Visualize root cross-section anatomy (parsed directly from XML)
• Modify hydraulic parameters interactively:
  • Cell wall thickness
  • Membrane permeability (km)
  • Aquaporin contribution (kAQP)
  • Cell wall conductance (kw)
  • Plasmodesmata conductance (Kpl)
• Choose and run predefined hydraulic scenarios (0, 1, 3, 4)
• Compare simulated hydraulic conductivities across parameter ranges

Prerequisites

You only need Docker installed on your machine. No Python, Streamlit, or MECHA dependencies need to be set up manually.

docker push heymansadrien/mecha-streamlit:0.1.0
docker run -p 8501:8501 heymansadrien/mecha-streamlit:0.1.0

Then open your browser at 👉 http://localhost:8501

Build from source (optional)

If you prefer to build the image yourself:

git clone https://github.com/MECHARoot/MECHAStreamlit.git
cd MECHAStreamlit
docker build -t mecha-streamlit .
docker run -p 8501:8501 mecha-streamlit

Citation

Please cite the GRANAR and MECHA tools if you use this workflow in your research:

Heymans A., Couvreur V., LaRue T., Paez-Garcia A., Lobet G. (2020). GRANAR, a computational tool to better understand the functional importance of monocotyledon root anatomy. Plant Physiology, 182(2), 707-720. doi: 10.1104/pp.19.00617

Couvreur V., Faget M., Lobet G., Javaux M., Chaumont F., Draye X. (2018). Going with the Flow: Multiscale Insights into the Composite Nature of Water Transport in Roots. Plant Physiology, 178(4), 1689–1703. doi: 10.1104/pp.18.01006

Acknowledgements

Developed in UClouvain at the Eath and Life Institute for the study of plant hydraulic anatomy using GRANAR and MECHA. Contributions and feedback are welcome.