The chemical diversity of humid tropical forests is thought to exceed that of all other terrestrial ecosystems combined, with cascading effects on spectroscopic patterns of tropical canopies acquired from new airborne and future space-based imaging spectrometers. To address this new frontier in spectroscopy, we developed the Carnegie Spectranomics Project (CSP), which seeks to quantify and understand linkages between chemical, spectral, and taxonomic patterns among tropical forest species.

The lidar has been critical in characterizing the 3-D structure of the tree canopies such that best quality image spectra can be used to extract chemistry data remotely. The fusion of these two sources of data make it possible to improve the ability to relate field measurements of leaf spectra to the canopy scale by providing critical data for modeling the observation and illumination parameters under which each pixel’s spectra was collected.

HiF

IS Im

ager

y

LiD

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ctra

l PC

A

Con

stan

t Sun

-Vie

wG

eom

etry

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Pre-screened Image

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Spectranomics: Remote Sensing of Canopy Chemical and Biological Diversity in Tropical Forests

Explained variation, single regression analyses

Leaf Trait

Wat

er

LMA C

Sol

uble

C

Hem

i-cel

lulo

se

Cel

lulo

se

Lign

in

Chl

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Chl

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Car

Tann

ins

Phe

nols N P Zn K Fe Ca B

Mg

Mn

Del

ta 1

5N

Del

ta 1

3C

Adj

uste

d-r2 V

alue

0.0

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1.0

FamilyGenusSpeciesMATMAPSite

High-fidelity Plant Spectroscopy

David E. Knapp, Roberta E. Martin, Gregory P. AsnerCarnegie Institution, Dept. of Global Ecology

Pigm

ents

Wat

er, L

eaf S

truct

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Water, Protein, Carbon Fractions, Secondary Compounds