|
Quantifying thresholds in arctic tundra vegetation structure and ecosystem function using LiDAR and multispectral remote sensing
Lee
A.
Vierling, University of Idaho, leev@uidaho.edu
(Presenter)
Natalie
T.
Boelman, Columbia University/LDEO, nboelman@ldeo.columbia.edu
Jan
U.H.
Eitel, University of Idaho, jeitel@uidaho.edu
Kevin
L.
Griffin, Columbia University/LDEO, griff@ldeo.columbia.edu
Heather
Greaves, University of Idaho, hgreaves@uidaho.edu
Troy
Magney, University of Idaho, tmagney@uidaho.edu
Case
Prager, Columbia University/LDEO, case.prager@gmail.com
The Arctic is undergoing significant climatic warming, and tundra ecosystems are responding to warming with increased vegetation greenness in both spatial and temporal domains. In northern Alaska, this greening has at least in part resulted from recent increases in the size, abundance, and range of deciduous shrubs. Changes in canopy height and other ecosystem properties in response to greater shrub dominance can cause shifts in carbon pools and fluxes, and habitat quality and availability for local fauna. Quantifying fine-scale variation and change in shrub structure is therefore likely to reveal several important biophysical and ecological shifts occurring in Arctic tundra communities. Our overarching goal is therefore to develop novel remote sensing-based methods for identifying, understanding, and scaling the onset of a cascade of immediate/near-term ecological shifts – related to both canopy carbon pools and exchange and trophic dynamics at the base of the terrestrial Arctic food chain—that are associated with increases in shrub height, shrub density, and canopy leaf area in the tundra ecosystem. Beginning summer 2013, we will collect terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), airborne laser scanning (ALS), and ground-based spectral data in combination with physiological, entomological, and micrometeorological data in northern Alaska to build and test relationships among ecological variables and remote sensing metrics across the full ranges of shrub height, leaf area, and species composition. These findings will then be scaled across the broader tundra landscape.
This work will directly address main priorities of the NASA Terrestrial Ecology program. Namely, we will study the impacts of warming on a range of ecosystem vulnerabilities in the Arctic (i.e. TE ABoVE) using powerful combinations of remote sensing datasets that have yet to be employed to study Arctic ecosystem change.
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Poster Session 2-A
(Wed 11:00 AM)
Associated Project(s):
Poster Location ID: 81
|