The abstract is read at the publisher; the summary is JClub's.
In two forest biodiversity experiments, tree species richness and functional diversity are linked to remotely sensed canopy indices, with NDVI decreasing with richness in needle-leaved species and increasing in broadleaved species.
- Why it matters: Remote sensing could connect biodiversity to ecosystem functioning, but observational studies can be confounded by environmental covariates. These experiments test biodiversity effects under homogeneous conditions.
- What they did: At BIOTREE sites in Kaltenborn and Bechstedt, airborne imaging spectroscopy indices, sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, and land surface temperature at 1-m resolution were analyzed alongside ground-based tree stem growth. Richness ranged from one to four species, and functional diversity was tested in mixtures planted with four tree species.
- The result: At Kaltenborn, community productivity did not increase with richness due to contrasting species-level responses, while NDVI shifted by leaf type; at Bechstedt, functional diversity lowered community-level normalized difference water and photochemical reflectance indices. NDVI was negatively correlated with basal area, and trait correlations varied among tree functional groups.
The findingWhy it mattersWhat they didThe result
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