Temperate Mixed Deciduous Forest Research Articles

Predictors of mushroom production in the European temperate mixed deciduous forest

Mushrooms play an important role in the maintenance of ecosystem processes and delivering ecosystem services, including food supply. They are also an important source of income for many people worldwide. Thus, understanding which environmental factors influence mushroom productivity is a high practical and scientific priority. We monitored the production of mushrooms in temperate mixed deciduous forest in Białowieża Primeval Forest in eastern Poland for two yielding seasons. The research plots were set under similar environmental conditions (topography, geology, soil type) but differed by tree species composition and tree species richness. The main factor explaining mushroom production (close to 35% of the variation explained by the model) was the species richness of mushrooms. In turn, the species richness of mushrooms was mainly explained by soil properties (pH and C/N ratio) and stand characteristics (including tree species richness and wood increment) for ectomycorrhizal mushrooms and by soil pH for saprotrophic mushrooms. Higher precipitation in 2021 resulted in higher mushroom production than in 2020, while low levels of precipitation in 2020 resulted in stronger effect of ambient temperature. The differences in mushroom yield between years varied highly among plots. They were explained by stand characteristics, and in the case of saprotrophic mushrooms by tree richness and their own species richness. Our results suggest that promoting mushroom species richness is fundamental for increasing mushroom yield and should be taken into account in forest management.

The Transcriptional Response of Soil Bacteria to Long-Term Warming and Short-Term Seasonal Fluctuations in a Terrestrial Forest.

Terrestrial ecosystems are an important carbon store, and this carbon is vulnerable to microbial degradation with climate warming. After 30 years of experimental warming, carbon stocks in a temperate mixed deciduous forest were observed to be reduced by 30% in the heated plots relative to the controls. In addition, soil respiration was seasonal, as was the warming treatment effect. We therefore hypothesized that long-term warming will have higher expressions of genes related to carbohydrate and lipid metabolism due to increased utilization of recalcitrant carbon pools compared to controls. Because of the seasonal effect of soil respiration and the warming treatment, we further hypothesized that these patterns will be seasonal. We used RNA sequencing to show how the microbial community responds to long-term warming (~30 years) in Harvard Forest, MA. Total RNA was extracted from mineral and organic soil types from two treatment plots (+5°C heated and ambient control), at two time points (June and October) and sequenced using Illumina NextSeq technology. Treatment had a larger effect size on KEGG annotated transcripts than on CAZymes, while soil types more strongly affected CAZymes than KEGG annotated transcripts, though effect sizes overall were small. Although, warming showed a small effect on overall CAZymes expression, several carbohydrate-associated enzymes showed increased expression in heated soils (~68% of all differentially expressed transcripts). Further, exploratory analysis using an unconstrained method showed increased abundances of enzymes related to polysaccharide and lipid metabolism and decomposition in heated soils. Compared to long-term warming, we detected a relatively small effect of seasonal variation on community gene expression. Together, these results indicate that the higher carbohydrate degrading potential of bacteria in heated plots can possibly accelerate a self-reinforcing carbon cycle-temperature feedback in a warming climate.

Herb litter mediates tree litter decomposition and soil fauna composition

Leaf litter from forest understorey species has very different characteristics (e.g. a higher nutrient content) which are regarded to be more palatable and digestible for the decomposer community compared to litter from the overstorey trees. Consequently, the decomposition of tree litter may show different dynamics when mixed with litter from herb species. To study the effect of understorey litter on tree litter decomposition, we set up a litterbag experiment in a temperate mixed deciduous forest in Belgium. We investigated the effect of spring (Anemona nemorosa) and summer (Aegopodium podagaria) herb litter on the litter decomposition of five native tree species that differ in litter quality. The spring and summer withering herb litters were added above the tree litters. After 742 days of in situ incubation, mass loss (40%–100%) and the decomposition rate (0.27–1.68 yr−1) of the litter from the five tree species were positively correlated with litter quality. The addition of summer herb litter resulted in increased mass loss and decomposition rates (k) of the underlying recalcitrant tree litter. In addition, summer herb litter increased nutrient concentration in the short-term as well as the abundance of soil fauna during litter decomposition. In contrast, spring herb litter slightly inhibited tree litter decomposition. Structural equation models showed that the effect of understorey litter on decomposition rates of tree litter acted via nutrient leaching towards the tree litter layer rather than via the alteration of soil fauna (detritivores and omnivores) abundance. Our results show that litter from understorey vegetation can alter nutrient availability in recalcitrant litters (Fagus sylvatica and Quercus robur) via increased nitrogen (N), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) concentrations by 9%, 21%, 22%, 41%, and 315% respectively after the summer herb litter addition. The effect on tree litter decomposition strongly depends on herb species identity and future research should focus on the generality of the observed patterns. We conclude that herb litter has a major role in accelerating carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling in temperate forests.

Herbivory effects on leaf litter decomposition vary with specific leaf area in temperate mixed deciduous forest

AbstractInsect herbivory has great impact on biogeochemical cycling in forest ecosystems, but experimental tests on the herbivory‐decomposability relationships at the interspecific level are rare. We conducted a 400‐day field decomposition experiment in a temperate mixed deciduous forest and measured mass remaining rate, decomposition constant, total loss of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) of leaf litter with/without obvious damage by chewing insects for different tree species. We found that herbivory effect on initial litter quality (C:N ratio) varied with species, leading to a substantial decrease for Morus alba (−5.78%) and an enhancement for Quercus acutissima (+5.35%). Herbivory damage increased the decomposition constant for M. alba and Liquidambar formosana with higher specific leaf area (SLA), but decreased it for Diospyros kaki and Q. acutissima with lower SLA. These contrasting effects of insect herbivory on litter decomposition could be attributed to the differential responses of litter initial quality (C:N ratio) of each species to herbivory damage. Herbivory‐induced decline of leaf C:N ratio could increase the decomposition constant of species with higher SLA. Our finding that herbivory damage showed interspecific variability in both litter quality and decomposition rate suggests that insect herbivore‐induced feedbacks to nutrient cycling and ecosystem function should be estimated at the species level in multispecies mixed deciduous forest.

Tigers, pine nuts and logging

The temperate mixed pine and deciduous forests in the Far East of Russia are home to an extraordinary variety of plants and animals. They are a part of the Amur Basin and are of considerable economic importance to the local population. They also help protect the global climate. Non-sustainable use, illegal logging and forest fires are all endangering these forests. As acts of human interference intensify, the degree of biodiversity in the forests lessens, as does the amount of carbon that they store. The ecological, environmental and social contribution made by these forests must be maintained. However, Russia’s forestry industry has been undermined, and is in need of reform.

Phosphorus Fluxes in a Temperate Forested Watershed: Canopy Leaching, Runoff Sources, and In-Stream Transformation

Declining foliar phosphorus (P) levels call increasing attention to the cycling of this element in temperate forests. We explored the fluxes of P in a temperate mixed deciduous forest ecosystem in six distinct hydrological compartments: Bulk precipitation and throughfall, soil water draining laterally from three different soil depths (0-15, 15-150, 150-320 cm below soil surface), groundwater, creek and spring discharge, which were sampled at daily to bi-weekly resolution from March 2015 to February 2016. Atmospheric P fluxes into the ecosystem were equally partitioned between wet and dry deposition. Approximately 10% of the foliar P stock was lost annually by foliar leaching during late summer. The concentrations of dissolved P in soil water from the forest floor and upper mineral topsoil followed a pronounced seasonal cycle with higher concentrations during the vegetation period. The concentrations of P dissolved in soil water decreased with increasing soil depth. Using an end member mixing analysis (EMMA) we found that P sources feeding the spring water were both soil water from greater depths or groundwater with season specific contributions. Atmospheric P fluxes into the ecosystem determined in this study and P-release from weathering reported for the research site were large enough to compensate P losses with runoff. This suggests that declining foliar P levels of forests are unlikely the result of a dwindling total P supply, but rather caused by tree nutrition imbalances or alternative stressors.

Direct and understorey-mediated indirect effects of human-induced environmental changes on litter decomposition in temperate forest

Human-induced environmental changes in temperature, light availability due to forest canopy management, nitrogen deposition, and land-use legacies can alter ecosystem processes such as litter decomposition. These influences can be both direct and indirect via altering the performance of understorey vegetation. To identify the direct and indirect effects of environmental changes on litter decomposition, we performed an experiment with standardised green and rooibos teas. The experiment was conducted in a temperate mixed deciduous forest, and treatments (temperature, light, and nitrogen) were applied to mesocosms filled with ancient and post-agricultural forest soil. Both green tea and rooibos teas were more rapidly decomposed in oligotrophic soil than in eutrophic soil. The direct effects of the treatments on litter decomposition varied among the two litter types, incubation times, and soil fertility groups. Warming and agricultural legacy had a negative direct effect on the decomposition of the green tea in the high soil fertility treatment during the early decomposition stage. In contrast, agricultural legacy had a positive direct effect on the decomposition of rooibos tea. Soil enriched with nitrogen had a negative direct effect on the decomposition of green tea in mesotrophic soil in the early decomposition stage and on rooibos tea in later stage. The indirect effects of the treatments were consistently negative, as treatments (especially the temperature and light treatments in the early decomposition stage) had a positive effect on plant cover, which negatively affected litter decomposition. Our results indicate that warming, increased nitrogen deposition, and land use legacy can directly stimulate the decomposition of labile litter on more fertile soils. Furthermore, warming and increased light had stronger positive direct effects on understorey herbaceous cover, which leads to slower decomposition rates, especially in more fertile soils. Therefore, the indirect effects of environmental changes related to the understorey layer on litter decomposition can be more important than their direct effects, thus should not be overlooked.

Forest biomass estimation over three distinct forest types using TanDEM-X InSAR data and simulated GEDI lidar data

The Global Ecosystem Dynamic Investigation (GEDI) mission has been successfully launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on December 5th, 2018. While the sampling pattern of GEDI (8 transects with about 600 m across-track spacing) is sufficient to provide accurate biomass maps at the mission's required gridded resolution of 1 km, it is of significant interest to fuse GEDI data with ancillary, wall-to-wall remote sensing data from other sensors to provide increased accuracy, potentially higher resolution, and to fill gaps caused by track spacing, clumping in the ISS orbital tracks, as well as from clouds. In this paper, we examine the utility of combining simulated GEDI lidar observations with acquisitions from DLR's TerraSAR-X/TanDEM-X (TDX) InSAR mission to improve forest biomass estimation at a moderate resolution of 1 km, and to produce biomass maps at a much finer resolution of one hectare. We statistically characterize uncertainties before and after fusing simulated GEDI observations with TDX data across three different biomes: a temperate mixed deciduous forest, a temperate and mountainous coniferous forest, and a tropical forest. We implement the Random Volume over Ground (RVoG) model to derive canopy heights from TDX, using GEDI observations to parameterize key variables in the model. Our uncertainty framework is based on application of what are known as hybrid and hierarchical model-based inference, which allows for the parametric estimation of the variance of biomass estimation using both sampled and modeled data. We found improved accuracies after applying our fusion methods, with uncertainties at 1 km resolution ranging from 11%–20% across the different study sites of the mean biomass from the use of GEDI data alone, compared to 7%–12% achieved after the fusion. At one hectare resolution, comparison of the fusion-derived biomass with field plots showed uncertainties associated with mean biomass predictions between 11%–27% across sites. Our results suggest that the use of ancillary data that are sensitive to biomass, such as heights from TDX, with observations of ecosystem structure from GEDI, has the potential to both improve accuracies and/or provide finer spatial resolution, than what is achievable through either mission by itself. We further demonstrate that the GEDI data themselves may be used to parameterize models that invert height from TDX, leading to more accurate height maps for use in biomass estimation. Lastly, our results illustrate the benefits of using parametric estimation theory to quantify uncertainties from both sampling and modeling errors that arise in the fusion of multi-modal remote sensing data at various spatial scales.

Early emergence increases survival of tree seedlings in Central European temperate forests despite severe late frost.

Global warming is expected to result in earlier emergence of tree seedlings that may experience higher damages and mortality due to late frost in spring. We monitored emergence, characteristics, and survival of seedlings across ten tree species in temperate mixed deciduous forests of Central Europe over one and a half year. We tested whether the timing of emergence represents a trade‐off for seedling survival between minimizing frost risk and maximizing the length of the growing period. Almost two‐thirds of the seedlings died during the first growing period. The timing of emergence was decisive for seedling survival. Although seedlings that emerged early faced a severe late frost event, they benefited from a longer growing period resulting in increased overall survival. Larger seedling height and higher number of leaves positively influenced survival. Seedlings growing on moss had higher survival compared to mineral soil, litter, or herbaceous vegetation. Synthesis. Our findings demonstrate the importance of emergence time for survival of tree seedlings, with early‐emerging seedlings more likely surviving the first growing period.

Tree diversity is not always a strong driver of soil microbial diversity: a 7‐yr‐old diversity experiment with trees

AbstractTrees provide organic substrates in the form of root exudates, litterfall, and fine root turnover. They modify soil physical properties and support soil biological activities. Therefore, trees are hypothesized to control soil biodiversity in forested areas. We predicted that (1) experimental forest plantations with higher tree alpha‐diversity have greater soil microbial alpha‐diversity and (2) that plantations with more divergent tree community composition would have more divergent soil microbial assemblages (Whitaker's beta‐diversity). We tested these predictions by measuring soil bacteria and fungi in a 7‐yr‐old tree biodiversity experiment. The experimental plantation contained 37 different tree assemblages, which were composed of one to four native species from temperate mixed deciduous forests. Further, there was a gradient of functional diversity nested within each level of species diversity. Soil samples were assessed for bacteria and fungi by amplicon sequencing. Tree alpha‐diversity weakly, but significantly, affected bacterial alpha‐diversity, without affecting fungal alpha‐diversity. Tree community composition was weakly, but significantly, linked to soil bacterial and fungal assemblages. In these 7‐yr‐old experimental plantations, tree diversity was not the most influential driver of soil microbial diversity.

Correction to: How does light availability affect the aboveground biomass allocation and leaf morphology of saplings in temperate mixed deciduous forests?

Correction to: How does light availability affect the aboveground biomass allocation and leaf morphology of saplings in temperate mixed deciduous forests?

How does light availability affect the aboveground biomass allocation and leaf morphology of saplings in temperate mixed deciduous forests?

Light is the most important physical variable that affects patterns of biomass allocation. A quantitative understanding of biomass allocation patterns is crucial to quantifying ecosystem dynamics and might have many practical uses in silviculture. In this research, we investigated the allocation of the aboveground biomass to leaves, branches, and bole as well as leaf morphology, using 26 saplings of Alnus subcordata C. A. M., 26 of Carpinus betulus L., and 27 of Fagus orientalis L. within a wide gradient of light conditions. Saplings were harvested in August 2014 in temperate, mixed deciduous forests of northern Iran in three sites with similar topographic conditions. A linear mixed effect model was used to evaluate the effect of light and species. Moreover, we developed biomass allometric equations using nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression. Biomass allocation to different organs and all leaf morphological traits were different among species. Light affected biomass allocation to leaves as well as specific leaf area and the direction of the effect was different for each species. Branch and bole allocation, leaf area ratio, and leaf area index were not affected by light. The effect of the interaction between light and species was significant for leaf allocation, branch allocation and specific leaf area. Moreover, sapling size seems to be an important factor explaining the effect of light on biomass allocation. Deriving highly precise biomass equations was possible by just using diameter at breast height and height, and available light did not improve the precision of models.

Ecosystem fluxes of hydrogen in a mid-latitude forest driven by soil microorganisms and plants.

Molecular hydrogen (H2 ) is an atmospheric trace gas with a large microbe-mediated soil sink, yet cycling of this compound throughout ecosystems is poorly understood. Measurements of the sources and sinks of H2 in various ecosystems are sparse, resulting in large uncertainties in the global H2 budget. Constraining the H2 cycle is critical to understanding its role in atmospheric chemistry and climate. We measured H2 fluxes at high frequency in a temperate mixed deciduous forest for 15months using a tower-based flux-gradient approach to determine both the soil-atmosphere and the net ecosystem flux of H2 . We found that Harvard Forest is a net H2 sink (-1.4±1.1kg H2 ha-1 ) with soils as the dominant H2 sink (-2.0±1.0kg H2 ha-1 ) and aboveground canopy emissions as the dominant H2 source (+0.6±0.8kg H2 ha-1 ). Aboveground emissions of H2 were an unexpected and substantial component of the ecosystem H2 flux, reducing net ecosystem uptake by 30% of that calculated from soil uptake alone. Soil uptake was highly seasonal (July maximum, February minimum), positively correlated with soil temperature and negatively correlated with environmental variables relevant to diffusion into soils (i.e., soil moisture, snow depth, snow density). Soil microbial H2 uptake was correlated with rhizosphere respiration rates (r=0.8, P<0.001), and H2 metabolism yielded up to 2% of the energy gleaned by microbes from carbon substrate respiration. Here, we elucidate key processes controlling the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of H2 and raise new questions regarding the role of aboveground biomass as a source of atmospheric H2 and mechanisms linking soil H2 and carbon cycling. Results from this study should be incorporated into modeling efforts to predict the response of the H2 soil sink to changes in anthropogenic H2 emissions and shifting soil conditions with climate and land-use change.

Dead wood quality influences species diversity of rare cryptogams in temperate broadleaved forests

Dead wood is one of the most important indicators of forest naturalness and the most important manageable habitat for biodiversity in forests. Standing and lying dead wood, and especially coarse woody debris, plays an important part in creating habitats for many highly specialized organisms, e.g., insects, fungi, lichens and bacteria. Temperate mixed deciduous forests, rich in species, have been studied only to a small extent from the point of view of the ecology of wood-related cryptogams. Our study aimed at the reduction of the gap in knowledge about the ecological characteristics of dead wood-dependent organisms by focusing on species of cryptogams developing on various dead wood structures typical of temperate non-beech forests. Studies were performed in forests located in Lithuania, Poland, Belarus and Russia. We recorded 48 species of cryptogams: 18 species of bryophytes, 24 species of fungi and 6 species of lichens developing on dead wood. Our study stresses the importance of all types of dead wood as a substrate for the development of rare cryptogam species. Logs were the most important substratum type for cryptogams, followed by snags, dead trees and stumps. The cryptogam species richness on logs was several times higher than on the three other types of substrata. Coarse logs of intermediate decay stages hosted the highest number of cryptogams, followed by freshly fallen logs and, finally, well decayed logs. Assessing the importance of dead wood quality for the studied cryptogams, we found that intermediate decay stages are extremely important for fungi, while bryophytes or lichens do not show a clear preference. The highest number of cryptogams was found on Fraxinus excelsior, Quercus robur and Picea abies, while other tree species had less than half cryptogam species.

Birch and conifer deadwood favour early establishment and shade tolerance in yellow birch juveniles growing in sugar maple dominated stands

Small-seeded tree species such as yellow birch (YB, Betula alleghaniensis Britt.) require deadwood or mineral soil for their establishment. Although much research has been done comparing YB germination on leaf litter vs. exposed mineral soil, less is known about deadwood as a seedbed and how different seedbeds affect YB early growth along light availability and size gradients. We examine how three common seedbeds (deadwood, moss cover on deadwood, and mineral soil) affected establishment and growth, biomass partitioning, and morphological traits of YB juveniles growing in the understory of temperate mixed deciduous and coniferous forests in southern Quebec. A total of 274 YB were sampled in four sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) dominated northern hardwood stands where selective cuts had been applied 6 and 15 years prior to sampling. Over 75% of the YB found on deadwood were on material of birch and conifer origin, although these species made less than 40% of the basal area. YB juveniles growing on deadwood showed traits that improve survival in shade such as reduced height growth for tall plants, higher efficiency in resource capture, and multilayered crowns. Our results demonstrate the importance of deadwood of birch and conifer origin in maintaining an abundant, natural, spatially well-distributed, and multistoried regeneration of YB.

Short-term changes of leaf area index, light transmission, and gap in a temperate mixed deciduous forest ecosystem in Bartın, Turkey

Ilyas BOLAT*, Omer KARA, Melih OZTURK Department of Forest Engineering, Division of Soil Science and Ecology, Faculty of Forestry, Bartin University, Bartin, Turkey Department of Forest Engineering, Division of Watershed Management, Faculty of Forestry, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey Department of Landscape Architecture, Division of Landscape Techniques, Faculty of Forestry, Bartin University, Bartin, Turkey

Interactions among roots, mycorrhizas and free‐living microbial communities differentially impact soil carbon processes

SummaryPlant roots, their associated microbial community and free‐living soil microbes interact to regulate the movement of carbon from the soil to the atmosphere, one of the most important and least understood fluxes of terrestrial carbon. Our inadequate understanding of how plant–microbial interactions alter soil carbon decomposition may lead to poor model predictions of terrestrial carbon feedbacks to the atmosphere.Roots, mycorrhizal fungi and free‐living soil microbes can alter soil carbon decomposition through exudation of carbon into soil. Exudates of simple carbon compounds can increase microbial activity because microbes are typically carbon limited. When both roots and mycorrhizal fungi are present in the soil, they may additively increase carbon decomposition. However, when mycorrhizas are isolated from roots, they may limit soil carbon decomposition by competing with free‐living decomposers for resources.We manipulated the access of roots and mycorrhizal fungi to soilin situin a temperate mixed deciduous forest. We added13C‐labelled substrate to trace metabolized carbon in respiration and measured carbon‐degrading microbial extracellular enzyme activity and soil carbon pools. We used our data in a mechanistic soil carbon decomposition model to simulate and compare the effects of root and mycorrhizal fungal presence on soil carbon dynamics over longer time periods.Contrary to what we predicted, root and mycorrhizal biomass did not interact to additively increase microbial activity and soil carbon degradation. The metabolism of13C‐labelled starch was highest when root biomass was high and mycorrhizal biomass was low. These results suggest that mycorrhizas may negatively interact with the free‐living microbial community to influence soil carbon dynamics, a hypothesis supported by our enzyme results. Our steady‐state model simulations suggested that root presence increased mineral‐associated and particulate organic carbon pools, while mycorrhizal fungal presence had a greater influence on particulate than mineral‐associated organic carbon pools.Synthesis. Our results suggest that the activity of enzymes involved in organic matter decomposition was contingent upon root–mycorrhizal–microbial interactions. Using our experimental data in a decomposition simulation model, we show that root–mycorrhizal–microbial interactions may have longer‐term legacy effects on soil carbon sequestration. Overall, our study suggests that roots stimulate microbial activity in the short term, but contribute to soil carbon storage over longer periods of time.

Additive biomass equations for small diameter trees of temperate mixed deciduous forests

ABSTRACTThe carbon stored in small diameter trees of temperate forests has been ignored in most studies and there is a lack of biomass equations for this component of forests. We harvested nine main tree species at sapling stage (dbh < 8 cm) across different site conditions (from 100 to 1700 m a.s.l). For each species, 10–12 individuals were selected randomly and harvested. Using nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression (NSUR), additive species-independent equations were developed for estimation of biomass of foliage, branch, bole, and total based on dbh, height, and wood density as predictors. Results showed that wood density and height had high effects on equations performance except for the foliage equations. Comparing actual and estimated biomass for each species revealed that these equations can be used for new species in similar forests.

The importance of coarse woody debris for vascular plants in temperate mixed deciduous forests

Deadwood in various stages of decomposition and diverse spatial arrangements provides habitat for numerous organisms. However, knowledge on the colonization of deadwood by vascular plants in mixed deciduous forests is insufficient. We carried out our study in an oak–lime–hornbeam forest in northeastern Poland. Downed logs were colonized by 49 vascular plant species, a number higher than reported from any other type of forest. Species richness and abundance of plants increased with log diameter and decomposition. The former was higher on broadleaf deadwood than on coniferous deadwood (46 vs. 38 species). The frequency and abundance on logs were higher for small-seeded plants (&lt;1 mg) than for bigger, heavier seeded plants. Deadwood surface served as an ecological filter, keeping small seeds in cracks, but allowing bigger seeds to roll down. Tree seedling density increased with wood decomposition. However, for eight of nine species, it was higher on the ground than on deadwood. Only spruce seedlings were recorded almost exclusively on deadwood, constituting a crucial substrate for spruce regeneration in meso-eutrophic forests. Therefore, we stress the importance of constant deadwood supply, on the scale of decades, to ensure the diversity of this substrate and to allow the natural dynamics of deadwood-dependent species populations.

Spatial scaling of reflectance and surface albedo over a mixed-use, temperate forest landscape during snow-covered periods

Albedo products from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) have been validated extensively over spatially homogeneous sites with snow-cover. This study evaluated the spatial scaling of albedo and related reflectance-based quantities over areas of high spatial heterogeneity in temperate mixed forest, deciduous forest, urban and built-up, and cropland/natural mosaic lands under snow covered conditions. Reflectance-based quantities evaluated included spectral radiance, surface directional reflectance, and spectral and broadband albedo derived from ground- and tower-based measurements and high-resolution (5m) hyperspectral imagery (HSI) to coarse resolution (~500m) MODIS satellite data.Our approach first compared ground- and tower-based spectral and broadband reflectance quantities to HSI data, then to evaluate HSI with MODIS reflectance-based products. Over snow-covered pasture, HSI directional reflectance was biased lower than ground-based measurements collected using a spectroradiometer, and greatly underestimated at wavelengths less than 450nm. Tower-based shortwave broadband albedo (280–2800nm) and HSI albedo agreed within ±0.04. HSI directional spectral reflectance agreed well with tower-based measurements of spectral albedo collected using a spectroradiometer and remote cosine receptor above a mixed forest canopy with underlying snow cover. Spectral albedo collected over a dormant deciduous broadleaf canopy increased from 0.10 for snow-free conditions to 0.14–0.18 when snow-cover was present under the canopy. Canopy shortwave broadband albedo was not very sensitive to underlying snowpack depth, indicative of strong vegetation masking.Next, HSI data were spatially aggregated and averaged to 500m MODIS grids and compared to two MODIS albedo products: (1) MODIS/Terra and Aqua Combined Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) Albedo V005 (MCD43A, magnitude inversion), and (2) MODIS/Terra Snow Cover Daily L3 Global 500m Grid (MOD10A1). An assessment of surface heterogeneity demonstrated that MODIS products generally perform well for snow-covered landscapes with high spatial heterogeneity, with biases between ±0.04 and RMSEs less than 0.085 for mixed and deciduous broadleaf forested and urban & built-up land cover classes, and less than 0.11 for cropland/natural mosaic. Biases were generally lower for MOD10A1 compared to MCD43A3.Mean shortwave broadband albedo from MODIS and HSI over deciduous broadleaf and mixed forest with underlying snow cover ranged from 0.14 to 0.28. Albedo over MODIS grids characterized as a mosaic of cropland, forests, grasslands, and shrublands (e.g., cropland/natural mosaic) was substantially higher than forested grids under snow-covered conditions, ranging from 0.39 to 0.43.