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Title: COMPARISON OF SPECTRAL AND BIOPHYSICAL EFFECTS OF VEGETATION GROWN UNDER TNT VS. N NUTRIENT LEVELS - MILITARY RANGE LAND CONTAMINATION

Author
item McMurtrey Iii, James
item ENTCHEVA CAMPBELL, P - UMBC/JCET
item MIDDLETON, E - NASA GSFC
item CORP, L - SSAI
item BUTCHER, L - SSAI
item CHAPPELLE, E - SSAI

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/9/2003
Publication Date: 11/1/2003
Citation: McMurtrey, J.E., Entcheva Campbell, P.K., Middleton, E.M., Corp, L.A., Butcher, L.M., Chappelle, E.W. 2003. Comparison of spectral and biophysical effects of vegetation grown under TNT vs. N nutrient levels-military range land contamination [abstract]. American Society of Agronomy.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Spectral reflectance (R) and fluorescence (F) changes in foliage were determined with laboratory remote sensing technologies for vegetation growing in trinitrotoluene (TNT) contaminated growth media. TNT levels of 80, 40 and 20 ppm were applied to monocot (corn) and dicot (soybean and pigweed) species. Since TNT is a relatively nitrogen (N) rich compound, TNT treatments were compared to similar N treatment levels (22, 11 and 5.5 ppm) and non-treated controls. The study aimed at establishing remote real time sampling spectral indicators with F and R for detection of biological stress when vegetation is grown in the presence of TNT-related compounds. Unexploded TNT-containing mines, deployed during military exercises, frequently leak TNT into the soils where it is partially degraded to nitrate and toluene, and additional compounds which can be taken up by vegetation. Board band R (>10nm) did not distinguish differences between treatments. Several hyperspectral R (<10nm) indices could separate the highest TNT levels from the control vegetation. Red/blue and red/green F ratios were able to separate the toxic effects of TNT from equivalent N level effects. Spectral properties at lower levels of TNT behaved similar to N treatment however at the highest TNT level the spectral attributes were indicative of toxic biophyical plant stresses. Currently, more information will be needed on the vegetation effects of unexploded ordinance chemical leakage in mine field environments.