How Does the Decline in Summer Greenness Differ by Tree Species?

William D. Brown*, Steven M. Guinn, Yiting Fan, Andrew J Elmore, and Brenden E. McNeil
Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506

Presentation No.: 24

Assigned Category (Presentation Format): Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (Poster Presentations)

Student’s Major: Reagents Degree

The insalubrious environments created by climate change can stress trees, often resulting in declining summer greenness and productivity. These declines in greenness have been monitored for whole forests using tower-mounted web cameras, or phenocams. Since different tree species react to climate change-induced stress differently, we hypothesized that phenocams could identify the decline in greenness for each tree species. Therefore, we identify and analyze summer greenness from one hundred trees visible within phenocams mounted on nine National Ecological Observation Network towers across eastern North America. Specifically, we use the visible and near infrared images collected each half hour by the phenocams to measure the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), a common measure of greenness. We then evaluate the rate of change in NDVI between the peak greenness in early summer and the onset of leaf senescence in late summer. By providing insight into how each species is responding to climate change, our observations of species-specific differences in declining summer greenness can inform forecasts for forest productivity and health under climatic change.

Funding: National Science Foundation Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) Division of Environmental Biology Context Statement Macrosystems Biology & NEON-Enabled Science P210953

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: Other