Seasonal variation in the canopy color of temperate evergreen conifer forests

Bijan Seyednasrollah; David R Bowling; Rui Cheng; Barry A Logan; Troy S Magney; Christian Frankenberg; Julia C Yang; Adam M Young; Koen Hufkens; M Altaf Arain; T Andrew Black; Peter D Blanken; Rosvel Bracho; Rachhpal Jassal; David Y Hollinger; Beverly E Law; Zoran Nesic; Andrew D Richardson

doi:10.1111/nph.17046

Seasonal variation in the canopy color of temperate evergreen conifer forests

New Phytol. 2021 Mar;229(5):2586-2600. doi: 10.1111/nph.17046. Epub 2020 Dec 1.

Authors

Bijan Seyednasrollah^{1

2}, David R Bowling³, Rui Cheng^{4

5}, Barry A Logan⁶, Troy S Magney⁷, Christian Frankenberg^{4

5}, Julia C Yang³, Adam M Young^{1

2}, Koen Hufkens^{8

9}, M Altaf Arain¹⁰, T Andrew Black¹¹, Peter D Blanken¹², Rosvel Bracho¹³, Rachhpal Jassal¹¹, David Y Hollinger¹⁴, Beverly E Law¹⁵, Zoran Nesic¹¹, Andrew D Richardson^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Informatics, Computing & Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA.
² Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA.
³ School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA.
⁴ Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA.
⁵ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91125, USA.
⁶ Department of Biology, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, 04011, USA.
⁷ Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
⁸ Computational & Applied Vegetation Ecology Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, 9000, Belgium.
⁹ INRA, UMR ISPA, Villenave d'Ornon, 75011, France.
¹⁰ School of Earth, Environment and Society and McMaster Center for Climate Change, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
¹¹ Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
¹² Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80309, USA.
¹³ School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
¹⁴ Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Durham, NH, 03824, USA.
¹⁵ College of Forestry, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97330, USA.

Abstract

Evergreen conifer forests are the most prevalent land cover type in North America. Seasonal changes in the color of evergreen forest canopies have been documented with near-surface remote sensing, but the physiological mechanisms underlying these changes, and the implications for photosynthetic uptake, have not been fully elucidated. Here, we integrate on-the-ground phenological observations, leaf-level physiological measurements, near surface hyperspectral remote sensing and digital camera imagery, tower-based CO₂ flux measurements, and a predictive model to simulate seasonal canopy color dynamics. We show that seasonal changes in canopy color occur independently of new leaf production, but track changes in chlorophyll fluorescence, the photochemical reflectance index, and leaf pigmentation. We demonstrate that at winter-dormant sites, seasonal changes in canopy color can be used to predict the onset of canopy-level photosynthesis in spring, and its cessation in autumn. Finally, we parameterize a simple temperature-based model to predict the seasonal cycle of canopy greenness, and we show that the model successfully simulates interannual variation in the timing of changes in canopy color. These results provide mechanistic insight into the factors driving seasonal changes in evergreen canopy color and provide opportunities to monitor and model seasonal variation in photosynthetic activity using color-based vegetation indices.

Keywords: AmeriFlux; PRI; PhenoCam; evergreen conifer; phenology; seasonality; xanthophyll.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Climate
Forests
North America
Photosynthesis
Plant Leaves
Seasons
Tracheophyta*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding