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Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Near-distance imaging spectroscopy investigating chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthetic activity of grassland in the daily course

Alexander Ač A B E , Zbyněk Malenovský C , Jan Hanuš A , Ivana Tomášková A , Otmar Urban A and Michal V. Marek A D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Laboratory of Plants Ecological Physiology, Division of Ecosystem Processes, Institute of Systems Biology and Ecology, Poříčí 3b, CZ-60300 Brno, Czech Republic.

B Agricultural Faculty, University of South Bohemia, Studentská 13, CZ-370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic.

C Remote Sensing Laboratories, Department of Geography, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland.

D Mendel University, Zemědělská 1, CZ-613 00 Brno, Czech Republic.

E Corresponding author. Email: acalex@usbe.cas.cz

Functional Plant Biology 36(11) 1006-1015 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP09154
Submitted: 17 June 2009  Accepted: 20 September 2009   Published: 5 November 2009

Abstract

Detection of grassland canopy chlorophyll fluorescence (Chl-F) conducted with an imaging spectroradiometer provided evidence of potential remote sensing estimation of steady-state Chl-F (Chl-Fs). Daily near-nadir views of extremely high spatial resolution hyperspectral images were acquired from a distance of 4 m for temperate montane grassland in the Czech Republic. Simultaneously, measurements of Chl-F and total chlorophyll content (Chla + b) were made on a single leaf at ground level were collected. A specifically designed ‘shade removal’ experiment revealed the influence of dynamic physiological plant processes on hyperspectral reflectance of three wavelengths: 532, 686 and 740 nm. Based on this information, the vegetation indexes R686/R630, R740/R800 and PRI calculated as (R532–R570)/(R532+R570) were tested for statistical significance with directly measured Chl-F parameters (maximum fluorescence yield, Fv/Fm; steady-state chlorophyll fluorescence, Chl-Fs and actual quantum yield, ФII). The grassland species under investigation were: Festuca rubra agg. (L.), Hieracium sp., Plantago sp., Nardus stricta (L.) and Jacea pseudophrygia (C.A. Meyer). The coefficients of determination (R2) for best-fit relationships between PRI-ФII and PRI-Chl-Fs, measured in the daily course, show a high variability of 0.23–0.78 and 0.20–0.65, respectively. Similarly, R2 for the R686/R630II and R686/R630-Chl-Fs relationships varied between 0.20–0.73 and 0.41–0.70, respectively. The highest average R2 values were found between PRI and Chla + b (0.63) and R686/R630 and Chla + b (0.72). The ratio R740/R800 did not yield a statistically significant relation with Chl-F parameters.

Additional keywords: actual fluorescence yield, chlorophyll fluorescence, grassland ecosystem, hyperspectral remote sensing, vegetation indexes.


Acknowledgements

This work is part of the research supported by the National Research Grant Program No. 2B06068 (ISBE ASCR) and by the grants AV0Z60870520 (ISBE ASCR), ForChange (SP/2D1/70/08, Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic) and 6007665808 (IPB). Mrs Gabrielle Johnson is gratefully acknowledged for the language and style corrections.


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