Spectral vegetation indices as the indicator of canopy photosynthetic productivity in a deciduous broadleaf forest

doi:10.1093/jpe/rts037

Abstract

Abstract: Aims Understanding of the ecophysiological dynamics of forest canopy photosynthesis and its spatial and temporal scaling is crucial for revealing ecological response to climate change. Combined observations and analyses of plant ecophysiology and optical remote sensing would enable us to achieve these studies. In order to examine the utility of spectral vegetation indices (VIs) for assessing ecosystem-level photosynthesis, we investigated the relationships between canopy-scale photosynthetic productivity and canopy spectral reflectance over seasons for 5 years in a cool, temperate deciduous broadleaf forest at 'Takayama' super site in central Japan.
Methods Daily photosynthetic capacity was assessed by in situ canopy leaf area index (LAI), (LAI × V cmax [single-leaf photosynthetic capacity]), and the daily maximum rate of gross primary production (GPP max) was estimated by an ecosystem carbon cycle model. We examined five VIs: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), green–red vegetation index (GRVI), chlorophyll index (CI) and canopy chlorophyll index (CCI), which were obtained by the in situ measurements of canopy spectral reflectance.
Important findings Our in situ observation of leaf and canopy characteristics, which were analyzed by an ecosystem carbon cycling model, revealed that their phenological changes are responsible for seasonal and interannual variations in canopy photosynthesis. Significant correlations were found between the five VIs and canopy photosynthetic capacity over the seasons and years; four of the VIs showed hysteresis-type relationships and only CCI showed rather linear relationship. Among the VIs examined, we applied EVI–GPP max relationship to EVI data obtained by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer to estimate the temporal and spatial variation in GPP max over central Japan. Our findings would improve the accuracy of satellite-based estimate of forest photosynthetic productivity in fine spatial and temporal resolutions, which are necessary for detecting any response of terrestrial ecosystem to meteorological fluctuations.

Key words: canopy photosynthesis, deciduous broadleaf forest, phenology, remote sensing, vegetation index

摘要：
Aims Understanding of the ecophysiological dynamics of forest canopy photosynthesis and its spatial and temporal scaling is crucial for revealing ecological response to climate change. Combined observations and analyses of plant ecophysiology and optical remote sensing would enable us to achieve these studies. In order to examine the utility of spectral vegetation indices (VIs) for assessing ecosystem-level photosynthesis, we investigated the relationships between canopy-scale photosynthetic productivity and canopy spectral reflectance over seasons for 5 years in a cool, temperate deciduous broadleaf forest at 'Takayama' super site in central Japan.
Methods Daily photosynthetic capacity was assessed by in situ canopy leaf area index (LAI), (LAI × V cmax [single-leaf photosynthetic capacity]), and the daily maximum rate of gross primary production (GPP max) was estimated by an ecosystem carbon cycle model. We examined five VIs: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), green–red vegetation index (GRVI), chlorophyll index (CI) and canopy chlorophyll index (CCI), which were obtained by the in situ measurements of canopy spectral reflectance.
Important findings Our in situ observation of leaf and canopy characteristics, which were analyzed by an ecosystem carbon cycling model, revealed that their phenological changes are responsible for seasonal and interannual variations in canopy photosynthesis. Significant correlations were found between the five VIs and canopy photosynthetic capacity over the seasons and years; four of the VIs showed hysteresis-type relationships and only CCI showed rather linear relationship. Among the VIs examined, we applied EVI–GPP max relationship to EVI data obtained by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer to estimate the temporal and spatial variation in GPP max over central Japan. Our findings would improve the accuracy of satellite-based estimate of forest photosynthetic productivity in fine spatial and temporal resolutions, which are necessary for detecting any response of terrestrial ecosystem to meteorological fluctuations.

Hiroyuki Muraoka, Hibiki M. Noda, Shin Nagai, Takeshi Motohka, Taku M. Saitoh, Kenlo N. Nasahara, Nobuko Saigusa. Spectral vegetation indices as the indicator of canopy photosynthetic productivity in a deciduous broadleaf forest[J]. J Plant Ecol, 2013, 6(5): 393-407.

[1]	Ning Liu, Yufeng Shi, Yongxia Ding, Li Liu, Shouzhang Peng. Temporal effects of climatic factors on vegetation phenology on the Loess Plateau, China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2023, 16(2): 0-rtac063.
[2]	Bowen Li, Jianping Sun, Shiping Wang, Wangwang Lv, Yang Zhou, Peipei Liu, Qi Wang, Wang A, Suren Zhang, Lu Xia, Huan Hong, Lili Jiang, Caiyun Luo, Zhenhua Zhang, Shilong Piao, Yanfen Wang, Tsechoe Dorji. Greater responses of flower phenology of Kobresia pygmaea community to precipitation addition than to constant and stepwise warming [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2023, 16(2): 0-rtac066.
[3]	Ting Ma, Thomas Parker, Ned Fetcher, Steven L. Unger, Jon Gewirtzman, Michael L. Moody and Jianwu Tang. Leaf and root phenology and biomass of Eriophorum vaginatum in response to warming in the Arctic [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(5): 1091-1105.
[4]	Xingchang Wang, Qi Wang, Yue Chen, Rui Zhao, Jiahui Zhang, Xiankui Quan, Fan Liu and Chuankuan Wang. Coloration and phenology manifest nutrient variability in senesced leaves of 46 temperate deciduous woody species [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(4): 700-710.
[5]	Blaise Binama and Caroline Müller. Differences in functional traits among distinct populations of the plant invader Bunias orientalis [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(3): 524-537.
[6]	Yuhang Dai, Fanxi Gong, Xueqin Yang, Xiuzhi Chen, Yongxian Su, Liyang Liu, Jianping Wu, Xiaodong Liu and Qingling Sun. Litterfall seasonality and adaptive strategies of tropical and subtropical evergreen forests in China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(2): 320-334.
[7]	Yuan-Qi Pan, Xiu Zeng, Wen-De Chen, Xin-Ran Tang, Kui Dai, Yan-Jun Du and Xi-Qiang Song. Chilling rather than photoperiod controls budburst for gymnosperm species in subtropical China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(1): 100-110.
[8]	Hai Liu, Feng Liu, Hongmeng Yuan, Liang Zheng, and Yuan Zhang. Assessing the relative role of climate and human activities on vegetation cover changes in the up–down stream of Danjiangkou, China [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2022, 15(1): 180-195.
[9]	Da-Ju Wang, Hai-Yan Wei, Xu-Hui Zhang, Ya-Qin Fang and Wei Gu. Habitat suitability modeling based on remote sensing to realize time synchronization of species and environmental variables [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2021, 14(2): 241-256.
[10]	Nara O. Vogado, Michael J. Liddell, Susan G. W. Laurance , Mason J. Campbell, Alexander W. Cheesman , Jayden E. Engert, Ana C. Palma , Françoise Y. Ishida and Lucas A. Cernusak. The effects of an experimental drought on the ecophysiology and fruiting phenology of a tropical rainforest palm [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(6): 744-753.
[11]	Dilia Mota-Gutiérrez, Guadalupe Arreola-González, Rafael Aguilar-Romero, Horacio Paz, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, Ken Oyama, Antonio Gonzalez-Rodriguez and Fernando Pineda-García. Seasonal variation in native hydraulic conductivity between two deciduous oak species [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2020, 13(1): 78-86.
[12]	Zongyao Sha, Yuwei Wang, Yongfei Bai, Yujin Zhao, Hua Jin, Ya Na and Xiaoliang Meng. Comparison of leaf area index inversion for grassland vegetation through remotely sensed spectra by unmanned aerial vehicle and field-based spectroradiometer [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2019, 12(3): 395-408.
[13]	Ke Huang, Jiaxing Zu, Yangjian Zhang, Nan Cong, Yaojie Liu and Ning Chen. Impacts of snow cover duration on vegetation spring phenology over the Tibetan Plateau [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2019, 12(3): 583-592.
[14]	Lingfeng Mao, Christopher W. Bater, John J. Stadt, Barry White, Piotr Tompalski, Nicholas C. Coops and Scott E. Nielsen. Environmental landscape determinants of maximum forest canopy height of boreal forests [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2019, 12(1): 96-102.
[15]	Shijun Liu, Hanling Guo, Jing Xu, Zeyuan Song, Shurui Song, Jianjun Tang, Xin Chen. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi differ in affecting the flowering of a host plant under two soil phosphorus conditions [J]. J Plant Ecol, 2018, 11(4): 623-631.