Spatio-temporal heterogeneous analysis and modern phytometry

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The combination of my background in mathematics and statistics with my location in the Department of Plant Science at McGill University explains for a good part the two main axes of my research program, called (A) "Spatio-Temporal Heterogeneity Analysis" and (B) "Modern Phytometry". (A) In the last years, I explored the geostatistical approach for multi-scale analysis of multivariate 2-D spatial data. My group and I developed an unbiased and efficient estimation method for fitting the "linear model of coregionalization" in this approach. We assessed the uncertainty associated with the parameter estimates and the scale-specific correlations derived from them. We published our own method of multi-scale analysis, called "CoRegionalization Analysis with a Drift" (CRAD); this takes advantage of the variogram modeling in the geostatistical approach for non-spatial and small-scale spatial variability and correlations, but is based on drifts estimated globally or within a moving window at large scale. In the submitted proposal, I explain the need for tests of significance for scale-specific correlations and how I will develop such tests with a M.Sc. student, as well as how I intend to extend CRAD to 3-D spatial and spatio-temporal data with a Ph.D. student. (B) The relationship between plant light interception and leaf area was traditionally modeled with the Beer-Lambert law, until the spatial distribution of leaves was incorporated through the fractal dimension of leafless plant structure, estimated from a photograph. My group and I developed a modern phytometric approach to explain plant light interception more completely and precisely, based on the processing and analysis of computed tomography (CT) scan data collected on canopies. The strong correlation obtained for Pyramidal Cedar with the fractal dimension of skeletonized 3-D images constructed from CT scan data demonstrates that such data contain fundamental information about the canopy architecture geometry. In the submitted proposal, I explain how I will build up on this pioneering work to conduct two original canopy CT scan experiments and explore a new avenue, called "wood CT scan", in the central part of the canopy: the trunk. One M.Sc. and one Ph.D. student plus one research assistant are involved.