The Functional Significance of Plant Optical Diversity: A Multi-scale Analysis

该项目采用新的光学采样方法来研究生物多样性、气体交换（地球的呼吸）以及生态系统对大气和气候的反馈。中心主题是“光学多样性”——植被光学模式在时间和空间上的变化——因为光学变化揭示了潜在物种丰富度、功能多样性和生态系统过程的有用信息。这是有效的，因为植物叶子和树冠的显示反映了潜在的资源和环境限制，使我们能够用光学采样方法检测这些限制，其中一些方法已经在我的研究小组中开发出来。这项研究将提高我们对基本的物理和生物过程的理解，包括在逆境时期通过光合作用下调对碳循环的控制，以及生态系统对大气和气候的反馈效应。这种方法也可以用来发展“光学类型”的概念，这是一种基于光学行为的新型植被分类，包括我们眼睛看不见的特征。这些方法可以监测生态系统的功能和健康，提高我们对生物碳交换的认识，并为根据基本生态系统过程来看待生物多样性提供新的方法。这些应用对资源管理者、政策制定者和广大公众都有实际的好处。例如，我们正在开展碳交换研究，以改进对阿尔伯塔牧场生物圈碳封存的估计。我们对生态系统-大气反馈的研究可以帮助预测快速变化的北极环境的未来状况。我们对光学多样性的研究为生物多样性的遥感检测提供了新的方法，可以帮助资源管理者进行土地管理和保护。

This project applies new optical sampling methods to study biodiversity, gas exchange (the breathing of the planet), and ecosystem feedbacks to the atmosphere and climate. The central theme is “optical diversity” – variation in vegetation optical patterns in time and space – because optical variation reveals useful information about underlying species richness, functional diversity, and ecosystem processes. This works because the display of plant leaves and canopies reflects underlying resource and environmental restrictions, allowing us to detect these constraints with optical sampling methods, several of which have been developed in my research group. This research will improve our understanding of basic physical and biological processes, including controls on the carbon cycle through photosynthetic downregulation under periods of stress, and the feedback effects of ecosystems on atmosphere and climate. This approach can also be used to develop the concept of “optical types,” a new kind of vegetation classification based on foptical behavior, including features invisible to our eyes. These methods can monitor ecosystem function and health, improve our understanding of biological carbon exchange, and provide new ways to look at biodiversity according to basic ecosystem processes. These applications have practical benefits for resource managers, policymakers and the public at large. For example, our studies of carbon exchange are being developed to improve estimates of biospheric carbon sequestration in Alberta’s rangelands. Our studies of ecosystem-atmospheric feedbacks can help predict future conditions in rapidly changing Arctic environments. Our studies of optical diversity are leading to new methods to detect biodiversity from remote sensing, which could help resource managers in land management and conservation.