Project Funding: 2008 - 2011

NRA: 2007 NASA: Terrestrial Ecology   

Funded by NASA

Abstract:
We propose to integrate field-measured tropical forest biometric variables with multi-scale remote sensing data from numerous sensors, for the purpose of characterizing and understanding patterns of forest structure across Amazonia. The Amazon basin contains the largest continuous tropical forest on the Earth (6 million km2) and constitutes 40% of the remaining area for this ecotype. The dynamic processes of growth and disturbance are reflected in the structural components of forests. Because Amazonia contains a large stock of biomass and because unmanaged Amazon forests currently may be a significant sink for carbon, understanding Amazonian forest dynamics reflected in forest structure is important for understanding regional and global carbon and biogeochemical cycles. A lack of comprehensive estimates of forest structural properties across the Amazon basin currently limits our ability to map carbon balances in this region. Recent observations from plots and eddy flux towers of carbon sink activity in Amazonian forests could be caused by recovery from disturbance, Because many or most of the currently studied forest plots were not randomly selected, and because their geographic distribution leaves vast areas unstudied, regional remote sensing data is required to understand the rate and frequency of forest disturbance in Amazonia and the linkage of disturbance to ecosystem carbon flux. We will use high resolution optical data to quantify forest structural properties including stem frequency, crown dimensions, and canopy gap fraction. We will extrapolate these estimates of forest structure from the local and regional scale to the basin scale by linking them statistically with synoptic reflectance data from moderate resolution sensors (MODIS/MISR). This will be done annually for seven years (2002-2008) using linear and non-linear statistical methods. The resulting temporal and spatial distributions of forest structural properties will provide insight into changes in carbon cycling at regional scales.

Publications:

Palace, M. W., McMichael, C. N. H., Braswell, B. H., Hagen, S. C., Bush, M. B., Neves, E., Tamanaha, E., Herrick, C., Frolking, S. 2017. Ancient Amazonian populations left lasting impacts on forest structure. Ecosphere. 8(12), e02035. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.2035

2015 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)

• Characterization and scaling of vegetation structure in Amazonia and Cerrado regions using remotely sensed imagery   --   (Michael Palace, Bobby Braswell, Stephen Hagen, Laerte Ferreria, Mercedes Bustamante, Michael Keller, Sabrina Miranda, Julia Shimbo, Christina Herrick, Franklin Sullivan)   [abstract]

2011 NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop Poster(s)

• Fake it till you make it: What can we learn about simulating forest structure?   --   (Michael Palace, Bobby H. Braswell, Stephen Hagen)   [abstract]
• Detection of forest canopy change in pan-tropical humid forests 2000-2009 with the SeaWinds Ku-band scatterometer   --   (Steve Frolking, Stephen Hagen, Thomas Milliman, Michael Palace, Julia Shimbo, Mark Fahnestock)   [abstract]
• A historical land cover map of the Cerrado region of Brazil based on Landsat MSS imagery   --   (Stephen Hagen, Laerte Ferreira, Michael Palace, Mercedes Bustamante)   [abstract]

2010 NASA Terrestrial Ecology Science Team Meeting Poster(s)

• Biometric Properties Estimated from High Resolution Imagery in the Amazon and the Cerrado Regions   --   (Michael Palace, Stephen Hagen, Bobby Braswell, Mercedes Bustamante, Laerte Ferreira)   [abstract]   [poster]
• Estimation of Tropical Forest Structure Using the Full Waveform Lidar from ICESat   --   (Michael Palace, Maria Hunter, Stephen Hagen, Mark Ducey, Bobby Braswell, Michael Keller)   [abstract]   [poster]

More details may be found in the following project profile(s):

• NASA Terrestrial Ecology (TE) Project Profile