Solar Induced Fluorescence for assessing the impact of drought on pine forest productivity

Trees photosynthesize according to how healthy they are. Monitoring photosynthesis can therefore reveal plant health and the progressive impacts of drought on forests. In this project, we will use an airborne spectrometer to collect sun induced fluorescence (SIF), a highly variable signal given off by plants when they absorb sunlight for photosynthesis. This project aims to explore the use of SIF to study drought responses of trees in a cross-disciplinary experiment and to improve quantifying carbon uptake and gross primary productivity (GPP) remotely. For this purpose, we will obtain airborne SIF data from drought-stressed and non-stressed forest canopies in a large long-term field experiment. Airborne SIF data collection will be paralleled by the collection of continuous canopy SIF, ecophysiological measurements on the ground and the collection of multispectral data from a drone.