Leaf traits and canopy structure together explain canopy functional diversity: an airborne remote sensing approach

Kamoske, Aaron G.; Dahlin, Kyla M.; Serbin, Shawn P.; Stark, Scott C.

doi:10.1002/eap.2230

Title: Leaf traits and canopy structure together explain canopy functional diversity: an airborne remote sensing approach

Journal Article · Mon Oct 05 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Ecological Applications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2230· OSTI ID:1656438

^[1];

^[2];

^[1]

Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Plant functional diversity is strongly connected to photosynthetic carbon assimilation in terrestrial ecosystems. However, many of the plant functional traits that regulate photosynthetic capacity, including foliar nitrogen concentration and leaf mass per area, vary significantly between and within plant functional types and vertically through forest canopies, resulting in considerable landscape-scale heterogeneity in three dimensions. Hyperspectral imagery has been used extensively to quantify functional traits across a range of ecosystems but is generally limited to providing information for top-of-canopy leaves only. On the other hand, lidar data can be used to retrieve the vertical structure of forest canopies. Because these data are rarely collected at the same time, there are unanswered questions about the effect of forest structure on the 3-D spatial patterns of functional traits across ecosystems. In the United States, the National Ecological Observatory Network's Airborne Observation Platform (NEON AOP) provides an opportunity to address this structure-function relationship by collecting lidar and hyperspectral data together across a variety of ecoregions. With a fusion of hyperspectral and lidar data from the NEON AOP and field-collected foliar trait data, we assessed the impacts of forest structure on spatial patterns of N. In addition, we examine the influence of abiotic gradients and management regimes on top of canopy %N and total canopy N (i.e. the total amount of N (g/m²) within a forest canopy) at a NEON site consisting of a mosaic of open longleaf pine and dense broadleaf deciduous forests. Here, our resulting maps suggest that in contrast with top-of-canopy values, total canopy N variation is dampened across this landscape resulting in relatively homogeneous spatial patterns. At the same time, we found that leaf functional diversity and canopy structural diversity showed distinct dendritic patterns related to the spatial distribution of plant functional types.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 1656438

Report Number(s):: BNL-216302-2020-JAAM

Journal Information:: Ecological Applications, Vol. 31, Issue 2; ISSN 1051-0761

Publisher:: Ecological Society of AmericaCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (73)

AIC model selection and multimodel inference in behavioral ecology: some background, observations, and comparisons Burnham, Kenneth P.; Anderson, David R.; Huyvaert, Kathryn P. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol. 65, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-1029-6	journal	August 2010
A Continuous Satellite-Derived Measure of Global Terrestrial Primary Production Running, Steven W.; Nemani, Ramakrishna R.; Heinsch, Faith Ann BioScience, Vol. 54, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0547:ACSMOG]2.0.CO;2	journal	January 2004
Mapping defoliation during a severe insect attack on Scots pine using airborne laser scanning Solberg, Svein; Næsset, Erik; Hanssen, Kjersti Holt Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 102, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2006.03.001	journal	June 2006
Ground-based estimation of leaf area index and vertical distribution of leaf area density in a Betula ermanii forest Sumida, Akihiro; Nakai, Taro; Yamada, Masahito Silva Fennica, Vol. 43, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.174	journal	January 2009
Application of imaging spectroscopy to mapping canopy nitrogen in the forests of the central appalachian mountains using hyperion and aviris Townsend, P. A.; Foster, J. R.; Chastain, R. A. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 41, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2003.813205	journal	June 2003
Lidar-based mapping of leaf area index and its use for validating GLOBCARBON satellite LAI product in a temperate forest of the southern USA Zhao, Kaiguang; Popescu, Sorin Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 113, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2009.03.006	journal	August 2009
Structure from Motion Photogrammetry in Forestry: a Review Iglhaut, Jakob; Cabo, Carlos; Puliti, Stefano Current Forestry Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40725-019-00094-3	journal	July 2019
Assembly and response rules: two goals for predictive community ecology Keddy, Paul A. Journal of Vegetation Science, Vol. 3, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.2307/3235676	journal	April 1992
Quantifying canopy complexity and effects on productivity and resilience in late-successional hemlock–hardwood forests Fahey, Robert T.; Fotis, Alexander T.; Woods, Kerry D. Ecological Applications, Vol. 25, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1890/14-1012.1	journal	April 2015
Photosynthesis and resource distribution through plant canopies Niinemets, ÜLo Plant, Cell & Environment, Vol. 30, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2007.01683.x	journal	September 2007
Flux towers in the sky: global ecology from space Schimel, David; Schneider, Fabian D. New Phytologist, Vol. 224, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15934	journal	June 2019
Mapping Savanna Tree Species at Ecosystem Scales Using Support Vector Machine Classification and BRDF Correction on Airborne Hyperspectral and LiDAR Data Colgan, Matthew; Baldeck, Claire; Féret, Jean-Baptiste Remote Sensing, Vol. 4, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs4113462	journal	November 2012
Usage of Lidar Data for Leaf Area Index Estimation Sabol, Jan; Patočka, Zdeněk; Mikita, Tomáš GeoScience Engineering, Vol. 60, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.2478/gse-2014-0013	journal	October 2014
Canopy structure and vertical patterns of photosynthesis and related leaf traits in a deciduous forest Ellsworth, D. S.; Reich, P. B. Oecologia, Vol. 96, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317729	journal	November 1993
Effects of canopy structure and species diversity on primary production in upper Great Lakes forests Scheuermann, Cynthia M.; Nave, Lucas E.; Fahey, Robert T. Oecologia, Vol. 188, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-018-4236-x	journal	August 2018
Important LiDAR metrics for discriminating forest tree species in Central Europe Shi, Yifang; Wang, Tiejun; Skidmore, Andrew K. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vol. 137 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isprsjprs.2018.02.002	journal	March 2018
Three-dimensional Structure of an Old-growth Pseudotsuga-Tsuga Canopy and Its Implications for Radiation Balance, Microclimate, and Gas Exchange Parker, Geoffrey G.; Harmon, Mark E.; Lefsky, Michael A. Ecosystems, Vol. 7, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-004-0136-5	journal	May 2004
Linking canopy leaf area and light environments with tree size distributions to explain Amazon forest demography Stark, Scott C.; Enquist, Brian J.; Saleska, Scott R. Ecology Letters, Vol. 18, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12440	journal	May 2015
Spectroscopic determination of leaf morphological and biochemical traits for northern temperate and boreal tree species Serbin, Shawn P.; Singh, Aditya; McNeil, Brenden E. Ecological Applications, Vol. 24, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1890/13-2110.1	journal	October 2014
Review of methods for in situ leaf area index (LAI) determination Weiss, M.; Baret, F.; Smith, G. J. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 121, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2003.08.001	journal	January 2004
Methodology comparison for canopy structure parameters extraction from digital hemispherical photography in boreal forests Leblanc, Sylvain G.; Chen, Jing M.; Fernandes, Richard Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 129, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2004.09.006	journal	April 2005
Optimization of foliage photosynthetic capacity in tree canopies: towards identifying missing constraints Niinemets, U. Tree Physiology, Vol. 32, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tps045	journal	May 2012
The global spectrum of plant form and function Díaz, Sandra; Kattge, Jens; Cornelissen, Johannes H. C. Nature, Vol. 529, Issue 7585 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16489	journal	December 2015
Photosynthesis and nitrogen relationships in leaves of C3 plants Evans, John R. Oecologia, Vol. 78, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377192	journal	January 1989
Leaf area density from airborne LiDAR: Comparing sensors and resolutions in a temperate broadleaf forest ecosystem Kamoske, Aaron G.; Dahlin, Kyla M.; Stark, Scott C. Forest Ecology and Management, Vol. 433 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.11.017	journal	February 2019
The pls Package: Principal Component and Partial Least Squares Regression in R Mevik, Bjørn-Helge; Wehrens, Ron Journal of Statistical Software, Vol. 18, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v018.i02	journal	January 2007
Seasonal and drought‐related changes in leaf area profiles depend on height and light environment in an Amazon forest Smith, Marielle N.; Stark, Scott C.; Taylor, Tyeen C. New Phytologist, Vol. 222, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15726	journal	February 2019
NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis Schneider, Caroline A.; Rasband, Wayne S.; Eliceiri, Kevin W. Nature Methods, Vol. 9, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.2089	journal	June 2012
Wood density and vessel traits as distinct correlates of ecological strategy in 51 California coast range angiosperms Preston, Katherine A.; Cornwell, William K.; DeNoyer, Jeanne L. New Phytologist, Vol. 170, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2006.01712.x	journal	June 2006
Observing terrestrial ecosystems and the carbon cycle from space Schimel, David; Pavlick, Ryan; Fisher, Joshua B. Global Change Biology, Vol. 21, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.12822	journal	February 2015
On the derivation of kernels for kernel-driven models of bidirectional reflectance Wanner, W.; Li, X.; Strahler, A. H. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 100, Issue D10 https://doi.org/10.1029/95JD02371	journal	January 1995
Hyperspectral discrimination of tropical rain forest tree species at leaf to crown scales Clark, M.; Roberts, D.; Clark, D. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 96, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2005.03.009	journal	June 2005
Linking vegetation patterns to environmental gradients and human impacts in a mediterranean-type island ecosystem Dahlin, Kyla M.; Asner, Gregory P.; Field, Christopher B. Landscape Ecology, Vol. 29, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-014-0076-1	journal	August 2014
Controls over aboveground forest carbon density on Barro Colorado Island, Panama Mascaro, J.; Asner, G. P.; Muller-Landau, H. C. Biogeosciences, Vol. 8, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-8-1615-2011	journal	January 2011
NASA Goddard’s LiDAR, Hyperspectral and Thermal (G-LiHT) Airborne Imager Cook, Bruce; Corp, Lawrence; Nelson, Ross Remote Sensing, Vol. 5, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs5084045	journal	August 2013
Towards high throughput assessment of canopy dynamics: The estimation of leaf area structure in Amazonian forests with multitemporal multi-sensor airborne lidar Shao, Gang; Stark, Scott C.; de Almeida, Danilo R. A. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 221 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.10.035	journal	February 2019
NEON: the first continental-scale ecological observatory with airborne remote sensing of vegetation canopy biochemistry and structure Kampe, Thomas U. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, Vol. 4, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3361375	journal	January 2010
Functional Traits and Niche-Based Tree Community Assembly in an Amazonian Forest Kraft, N. J. B.; Valencia, R.; Ackerly, D. D. Science, Vol. 322, Issue 5901 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1160662	journal	October 2008
Canopy light transmittance in a chronosequence of mixed-species deciduous forests Brown, Martin J.; Parker, Geoffrey G. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, Vol. 24, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1139/x94-219	journal	August 1994
Environmental and community controls on plant canopy chemistry in a Mediterranean-type ecosystem Dahlin, K. M.; Asner, G. P.; Field, C. B. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1215513110	journal	April 2013
Causes and consequences of variation in leaf mass per area (LMA): a meta‐analysis Poorter, Hendrik; Niinemets, Ülo; Poorter, Lourens New Phytologist, Vol. 182, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.02830.x	journal	April 2009
Comparison of Possible Multispectral Classification Schemes for Tree Crowns Individually Delineatedon High Spatial Resolution MEIS Images Gougeon, François A. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 21, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/07038992.1995.10874590	journal	March 1995
High rates of primary production in structurally complex forests Gough, Christopher M.; Atkins, Jeff W.; Fahey, Robert T. Ecology, Vol. 100, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2864	journal	August 2019
Minimizing Reflectance Anisotropy Effects in Airborne Spectroscopy Data Using Ross–Li Model Inversion With Continuous Field Land Cover Stratification Weyermann, Jorg; Kneubuhler, Mathias; Schlapfer, Daniel IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 53, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2015.2415872	journal	November 2015
Environmental filtering and land-use history drive patterns in biomass accumulation in a mediterranean-type landscape Dahlin, Kyla M.; Asner, Gregory P.; Field, Christopher B. Ecological Applications, Vol. 22, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1890/11-1401.1	journal	January 2012
High spatial resolution three-dimensional mapping of vegetation spectral dynamics using computer vision Dandois, Jonathan P.; Ellis, Erle C. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 136 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2013.04.005	journal	September 2013
Foliage Profile by Vertical Measurements MacArthur, Robert H.; Horn, Henry S. Ecology, Vol. 50, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.2307/1933693	journal	September 1969
Amazon forest carbon dynamics predicted by profiles of canopy leaf area and light environment Stark, Scott C.; Leitold, Veronika; Wu, Jin L. Ecology Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01864.x	journal	September 2012
Assessing the generality of global leaf trait relationships Wright, Ian J.; Reich, Peter B.; Cornelissen, Johannes H. C. New Phytologist, Vol. 166, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01349.x	journal	February 2005
Evaluating error associated with lidar-derived DEM interpolation Bater, Christopher W.; Coops, Nicholas C. Computers & Geosciences, Vol. 35, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2008.09.001	journal	February 2009
Operational BRDF Effects Correction for Wide-Field-of-View Optical Scanners (BREFCOR) Schlapfer, Daniel; Richter, Rudolf; Feingersh, Tal IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 53, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2014.2349946	journal	April 2015
Data synergy between leaf area index and clumping index Earth Observation products using photon recollision probability theory Pisek, Jan; Buddenbaum, Henning; Camacho, Fernando Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 215 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.05.026	journal	September 2018
Satellite remote sensing of primary production Tucker, C. J.; Sellers, P. J. International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 7, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1080/01431168608948944	journal	November 1986
Laser altimeter canopy height profiles: methods and validation for closed-canopy, broadleaf forests Harding, D. J.; Lefsky, M. A.; Parker, G. G. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 76, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(00)00210-8	journal	June 2001
Regional ecosystem structure and function: ecological insights from remote sensing of tropical forests Chambers, Jeffrey Q.; Asner, Gregory P.; Morton, Douglas C. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Vol. 22, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2007.05.001	journal	August 2007
Landscape-scale changes in forest structure and functional traits along an Andes-to-Amazon elevation gradient Asner, G. P.; Anderson, C. B.; Martin, R. E. Biogeosciences, Vol. 11, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-843-2014	journal	January 2014
The role of canopy structural complexity in wood net primary production of a maturing northern deciduous forest Hardiman, Brady S.; Bohrer, Gil; Gough, Christopher M. Ecology, Vol. 92, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1890/10-2192.1	journal	September 2011
Scaling regression inputs by dividing by two standard deviations Gelman, Andrew Statistics in Medicine, Vol. 27, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.3107	journal	January 2008
Techniques for BRDF Correction of Hyperspectral Mosaics Collings, Simon; Caccetta, Peter; Campbell, Norm IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 48, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2010.2048574	journal	October 2010
REGIONAL VARIATION IN FOLIAR CHEMISTRY AND N CYCLING AMONG FORESTS OF DIVERSE HISTORY AND COMPOSITION ^* Ollinger, S. V.; Smith, M. L.; Martin, M. E. Ecology, Vol. 83, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9658(2002)083[0339:RVIFCA]2.0.CO;2	journal	February 2002
Imaging spectroscopy algorithms for mapping canopy foliar chemical and morphological traits and their uncertainties Singh, Aditya; Serbin, Shawn P.; McNeil, Brenden E. Ecological Applications, Vol. 25, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1890/14-2098.1	journal	December 2015
SCS+C: a modified Sun-canopy-sensor topographic correction in forested terrain Soenen, S. A.; Peddle, D. R.; Coburn, C. A. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 43, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2005.852480	journal	September 2005
Terrestrial biogeochemical cycles: Global estimates with remote sensing Schimel, David S. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 51, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-4257(94)00064-T	journal	January 1995
Shedding light on shade: ecological perspectives of understorey plant life Valladares, Fernando; Laanisto, Lauri; Niinemets, Ülo Plant Ecology & Diversity, Vol. 9, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2016.1210262	journal	May 2016
Quantifying forest canopy traits: Imaging spectroscopy versus field survey Asner, Gregory P.; Martin, Roberta E.; Anderson, Christopher B. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 158 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2014.11.011	journal	March 2015
Disentangling the effects of compositional and structural diversity on forest productivity Silva Pedro, Mariana; Rammer, Werner; Seidl, Rupert Journal of Vegetation Science, Vol. 28, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12505	journal	February 2017
Lidar Remote Sensing of the Canopy Structure and Biophysical Properties of Douglas-Fir Western Hemlock Forests Lefsky, M. A.; Cohen, W. B.; Acker, S. A. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 70, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0034-4257(99)00052-8	journal	December 1999
Light and VPD gradients drive foliar nitrogen partitioning and photosynthesis in the canopy of European beech and silver fir Bachofen, Christoph; D’Odorico, Petra; Buchmann, Nina Oecologia, Vol. 192, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04583-x	journal	January 2020
A worldwide analysis of within-canopy variations in leaf structural, chemical and physiological traits across plant functional types Niinemets, Ülo; Keenan, Trevor F.; Hallik, Lea New Phytologist, Vol. 205, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.13096	journal	October 2014
Forest Canopy Structural Complexity and Light Absorption Relationships at the Subcontinental Scale Atkins, J. W.; Fahey, R. T.; Hardiman, B. H. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, Vol. 123, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JG004256	journal	April 2018
Modeling approaches to estimate effective leaf area index from aerial discrete-return LIDAR Richardson, Jeffrey J.; Moskal, L. Monika; Kim, Soo-Hyung Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Vol. 149, Issue 6-7 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2009.02.007	journal	June 2009
Maintaining high rates of carbon storage in old forests: A mechanism linking canopy structure to forest function Hardiman, Brady S.; Gough, Christopher M.; Halperin, Abby Forest Ecology and Management, Vol. 298 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2013.02.031	journal	June 2013
Airborne spectranomics: mapping canopy chemical and taxonomic diversity in tropical forests Asner, Gregory P.; Martin, Roberta E. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Vol. 7, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1890/070152	journal	June 2009

Similar Records

Towards mapping biodiversity from above: Can fusing lidar and hyperspectral remote sensing predict taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic tree diversity in temperate forests?

Journal Article · Fri May 13 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Global Ecology and Biogeography · OSTI ID:1656438

Kamoske, Aaron G.; Dahlin, Kyla M.; Read, Quentin D.; +4 more

Leaf area density from airborne LiDAR: Comparing sensors and resolutions in a temperate broadleaf forest ecosystem

Journal Article · Tue Nov 13 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Forest Ecology and Management · OSTI ID:1656438

Kamoske, Aaron G.; Serbin, Shawn P.; Dahlin, Kyla M.; +1 more

Mapping foliar photosynthetic capacity in sub-tropical and tropical forests with UAS-based imaging spectroscopy: Scaling from leaf to canopy

Journal Article · Fri May 05 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Remote Sensing of Environment · OSTI ID:1656438

Liu, Shuwen; Yan, Zhengbing; Wang, Zhihui; +17 more

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Hyperspectral imagery
airborne lidar
functional traits
forest canopies
forest structure
landscape ecology

Title: Leaf traits and canopy structure together explain canopy functional diversity: an airborne remote sensing approach

Citation Formats

References (73)

Similar Records

Related Subjects