Abstract
Understanding the spatial distribution of forage quality is important to address critical research questions in grassland science. Due to its efficiency and accuracy, there has been a widespread interest in mapping the canopy vegetation characteristics using remote sensing methods. In this study, foliar chlorophylls, carotenoids, and nutritional elements across multiple tallgrass prairie functional groups were quantified at the leaf level using hyperspectral analysis in the region of 470–800 nm, which was expected to be a precursor to further remote sensing of canopy vegetation quality. A method of spectral standardization was developed using a form of the normalized difference, which proved feasible to reduce the interference from background effects in the leaf reflectance measurements. Chlorophylls and carotenoids were retrieved through inverting the physical model PROSPECT 5. The foliar nutritional elements were modeled empirically. Partial least squares regression was used to build the linkages between the high-dimensional spectral predictor variables and the foliar biochemical contents. Results showed that the retrieval of leaf biochemistry through hyperspectral analysis can be accurate and robust across different tallgrass prairie functional groups. In addition, correlations were found between the leaf pigments and nutritional elements. Results provided insight into the use of pigment-related vegetation indices as the proxy of plant nutrition quality.
Highlights
Interactive processes among fire, macro grazers, and vegetation canopy are of particular interest in grassland science (Anderson, 2006; Anderson et al, 2007; Allred et al, 2011a,b; Joern and Raynor, 2018)
Adjustment of the Leaf Structure Parameter in PROSPECT 5 In addition to chlorophylls and carotenoids, the leaf structure parameter has a significant effect on the spectral shape in the visible and near infrared region
Results of this study show that the hyperspectral features in the spectral region of 470–800 nm are useful for detecting concentrations of leaf pigments and nutritional elements
Summary
Interactive processes among fire, macro grazers, and vegetation canopy are of particular interest in grassland science (Anderson, 2006; Anderson et al, 2007; Allred et al, 2011a,b; Joern and Raynor, 2018). Analysis of Leaf Pigments collect canopy information such as nutritional status, photosynthesis rates and canopy structure over a large vegetative area (Asrar et al, 1992; Chen and Cihlar, 1996; Gitelson et al, 1996; Coops et al, 2003; Belluco et al, 2006). Retrieving such canopy characteristics from remotely sensed data requires analytical methods capable of converting spectral response data into usable information. The foliar pigments and nutritional elements can be estimated from the spectral features due to their direct or indirect associations with the leaf organic matter (Goetz et al, 1985; Clark et al, 2003; Galvez-Sola et al, 2015)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
