Pan-tropical plant functional trait variation from space

TL;DR

This study utilizes a novel spaceborne spectrometer to sample and analyze plant functional trait variation across tropical moist forests on three continents, enhancing understanding of ecosystem responses to environmental change.

Contribution

It introduces a new remote sensing approach to measure plant traits at a large scale, providing insights into trait variation across different tropical regions.

Findings

Sampled roughly 1% of tropical moist forest biome.

Compared traits across continents and biomes.

Enhanced understanding of trait-environment relationships.

Abstract

Plant functional trait variation in tropical forests is central to predicting ecosystem responses to change. Informaiton on traits is limited relative to the diversity of climate, landforms, disturbance regimes and species present. These traits are central to modeled predictions of ecosystem change. We used a new spaceborne imagining spectrometer from the Italian Space Agency to sample roughly 1% of the tropical moist forest biome for traits along the Leaf Economics Spectrum, as well as data to contrast them with adjacent biomes. we used these data to examine LES traits between tropical moist forests on three continents. Knowledge of trait variation and its environmental controls can inform models of ecosystem response in a changing environment, allowing biological detail in models of biophysical and biogeochemical processes.