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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306446
Title: Daily light use efficiency in a cornfield can be related to the canopy red/far-red fluorescence ratio and leaf light use efficiency across a growing season

Author
item MIDDLETON, E.M. - National Aeronautics And Space Administration (NASA)
item CHENG, Y. - Collaborator
item CAMPBELL, P. - University Of Maryland
item CORP, L.A. - Sigma Space Corporation
item ZHANG, Q. - Collaborator
item HUEMMRICH, K.F. - University Of Maryland
item LANDIS, D.R. - Sigma Space Corporation
item Kustas, William - Bill
item Russ, Andrew - Andy

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/7/2014
Publication Date: 7/30/2014
Citation: Middleton, E.M., Cheng, Y., Campbell, P., Corp, L.A., Zhang, Q., Huemmrich, K.F., Landis, D.R., Kustas, W.P., Russ, A. 2014. Daily light use efficiency in a cornfield can be related to the canopy red/far-red fluorescence ratio and leaf light use efficiency across a growing season [abstract]. 5th International workshop on remote sensing of vegetation flourescence. Abstract No. S1-1510.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In multiple years (2008-2013), we collected canopy and leaf fluorescence, photosynthesis, hyperspectral reflectance spectra, and biophysical measurements along transects within a USDA/Beltsville experimental cornfield treated with optimal nitrogen application (100%N) and which has an eddy covariance flux tower. We examined the behavior throughout the 2008 growing season of the solar induced fluorescence (SIF) retrieved from high resolution spectra using the 3FLD method in both oxygen absorption bands associated with the two chlorophyll fluorescence peaks. We examined the shift at the mid-season growth stage from higher red SIF to higher Far-Red SIF, producing a Red/Far-Red SIF ratio that was strongly related to the observed cornfield photosynthetic light use efficiency (LUE) at canopy level (LUEcanopy) derived from the flux tower/canopy reflectance measurements (r2 = 0.86). The correlation between LUEcanopy and the Red/Far-Red Ratio was confirmed with similar data collected in four additional years (r2 = 0.70). Most important for scaling, a similar seasonal pattern was obtained for LUE determined from individual top of canopy (TOC) leaves and from the flux tower measurements of the cornfield: When expressed in equivalent units, a strong linear relationship was demonstrated between LUEcanopy and LUEleaf (r2 = 0.80, RMSE = 0.0471 µmol CO2/µmol PPFD), where LUEcanopy = 0.001 + 1.28 * LUEleaf. Therefore, this study demonstrates that a photosynthetic parameter (LUE) can be scaled from TOC leaf measurements to canopy level. It also demonstrates that LUEcanopy can be directly estimated from two spectral SIF measurements over a wide range of growth and environmental conditions, for an experimental cornfield.