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Nature ecology & evolution
11, 2023;7 (11): 1790-1798.

Structural complexity biases vegetation greenness measures.

Yelu Zeng, Dalei Hao, Taejin Park, Peng Zhu, Alfredo Huete, Ranga Myneni, Yuri Knyazikhin, Jianbo Qi, Ramakrishna R Nemani, Fa Li, Jianxi Huang, Yongyuan Gao, Baoguo Li, Fujiang Ji, Philipp Köhler, Christian Frankenberg, Joseph A Berry, Min Chen
Author Information
  1. Yelu Zeng: College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. zengyelu123@gmail.com. ORCID
  2. Dalei Hao: Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA. dalei.hao@pnnl.gov. ORCID
  3. Taejin Park: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA. ORCID
  4. Peng Zhu: Department of Geography and Institute for Climate and Carbon Neutrality, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
  5. Alfredo Huete: Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ORCID
  6. Ranga Myneni: Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
  7. Yuri Knyazikhin: Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
  8. Jianbo Qi: Centre d'Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphere, Toulouse, France.
  9. Ramakrishna R Nemani: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
  10. Fa Li: Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA. ORCID
  11. Jianxi Huang: College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. ORCID
  12. Yongyuan Gao: College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China. ORCID
  13. Baoguo Li: College of Land Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
  14. Fujiang Ji: Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
  15. Philipp Köhler: EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany. ORCID
  16. Christian Frankenberg: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. ORCID
  17. Joseph A Berry: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA. ORCID
  18. Min Chen: Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA. min.chen@wisc.edu. ORCID
PMID: 37710041 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02187-6

Abstract

Vegetation 'greenness' characterized by spectral vegetation indices (VIs) is an integrative measure of vegetation leaf abundance, biochemical properties and pigment composition. Surprisingly, satellite observations reveal that several major VIs over the US Corn Belt are higher than those over the Amazon rainforest, despite the forests having a greater leaf area. This contradicting pattern underscores the pressing need to understand the underlying drivers and their impacts to prevent misinterpretations. Here we show that macroscale shadows cast by complex forest structures result in lower greenness measures compared with those cast by structurally simple and homogeneous crops. The shadow-induced contradictory pattern of VIs is inevitable because most Earth-observing satellites do not view the Earth in the solar direction and thus view shadows due to the sun-sensor geometry. The shadow impacts have important implications for the interpretation of VIs and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence as measures of global vegetation changes. For instance, a land-conversion process from forests to crops over the Amazon shows notable increases in VIs despite a decrease in leaf area. Our findings highlight the importance of considering shadow impacts to accurately interpret remotely sensed VIs and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence for assessing global vegetation and its changes.

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MeSH Term

Seasons
Forests
Rainforest
Bias
Chlorophyll

Chemicals

Chlorophyll
Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

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