Significant gaps exist in our knowledge of the impact of leaf aging on canopy signal variability, which limits our understanding of vegetation status based on remotely sensed data. To understand the effects of leaf aging at the leaf and canopy scales, a combination of field, remote-sensing and physical modeling techniques was adopted to assess the canopy spectral signals of evergreen Cunningham...

Given the contrasting short-term temperature dependences of gross primary production (GPP) and autotrophic respiration, the fraction of GPP respired by trees is predicted to increase with warming, providing a positive feedback to climate change. However, physiological acclimation may dampen or eliminate this response. We measured the fluxes of aboveground respiration (Ra ), GPP and their ratio ...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Leaf hydraulic properties are strongly linked with transpiration and photosynthesis in many species. However, it is not known if gas exchange and hydraulics will have co-ordinated responses to climate change. The objective of this study was to investigate the responses of leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) in Glycine max (soybean) to growth at elevated [CO2] and increased te...

An understorey model is created for an area of broadleaf, deciduous woodland in eastern England using airborne LiDAR data from winter 2003 (leaf-off conditions) and summer 2005 (leaf-on). The woodland is ancient, semi-natural broadleaf and has a heterogeneous structure, with a mostly closed canopy overstorey and a patchy understorey layer beneath. In places, particularly in the centre of the st...

To test the hypothesis that the divaricate habit protects internal leaves from cold and dry conditions, and raises leaf temperatures on cold sunny days, thermocouples were attached to internal and external leaves on divaricate plants. For Coprosma propinqua plants at Cass, inland Canterbury, there were consistent differences in temperature between leaves, but these were not simply related to th...

The concept of canopy spectral invariants expresses the observation that simple algebraic combinations of leaf and canopy spectral reflectance become wavelength independent and determine two canopy structure specific variables – the recollision and escape probabilities. These variables specify an accurate relationship between the spectral response of a vegetation canopy to incident solar radiat...

Aerial and terrestrial thermography has become a practical tool to determine water stress conditions in vineyards. However, for proper use of this technique it is necessary to consider vine architecture (canopy zone analysis) and image thresholding approaches (determination of the upper and lower baseline temperature values). During the 2014–2015 growing season, an experimental study under diff...

Using an analytical model, it was shown that for a given amount of nitrogen in the canopy of a stand (N(T)), there exists an evolutionarily stable leaf area index (ES-LAI), and therefore an evolutionarily stable average leaf nitrogen content (n(ES)(av);n(ES)(av) =N(T)/ES-LAI), at which no individual plant in the stand can increase its photosynthesis by changing its leaf area. It was also shown ...

The concept of canopy spectral invariants expresses the observation that simple algebraic combinations of leaf and canopy spectral reflectance become wavelength independent and determine two canopy structure specific variables – the recollision and escape probabilities. These variables specify an accurate relationship between the spectral response of a vegetation canopy to incident solar radiat...

Digital repeat photography is becoming widely used for near-surface remote sensing of vegetation. Canopy greenness, which has been used extensively for phenological applications, can be readily quantified from camera images. Important questions remain, however, as to whether the observed changes in canopy greenness are directly related to changes in leaf-level traits, changes in canopy structur...