Javier Pacheco-Labrador

Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena | BGC · Department of Biogeochemical Integration

Photosynthesis plays a crucial role in regulating the global carbon cycle and mitigating climate change. The diurnal variation in photosynthesis provides key information on the responses of ecosystems to environmental drivers, but there is a critical gap in the large-scale estimation of diurnal photosynthesis. In the last decade, satellite estimate...

In a context of accelerated human-induced biodiversity loss, remote sensing (RS) is emerging as a promising tool to map plant biodiversity from space. Proposed approaches often rely on the Spectral Variation Hypothesis (SVH), linking the heterogeneity of terrestrial vegetation to the variability of the spectroradiometric signals. Yet, due to observ...

Presenting the "Spatial Scaling Challenge" (SSC) launched by the Cost Action CA17143 SENSECO - WG1 Scaling Gap. This is an open exercise aimed at defining the best scaling practices and knowledge gaps from the community experience. Participants are asked to retrieve Cab, LAI, Vcmax, and NPQ from simulated field and airborne imagery (R, SIF and LST)...

Remote sensing capabilities to monitor evergreen broadleaved vegetation are limited by the low temporal variability in the greenness signal. With canopy greenness computed from digital repeat photography (PhenoCam), we investigated how canopy greenness related to seasonal changes in leaf age and traits as well as variation of trees’ water fluxes (c...

Sun-induced fluorescence in the far-red region (SIF) is increasingly used as a remote and proximal-sensing tool capable of tracking vegetation gross primary production (GPP). However, the use of SIF to probe changes in GPP is challenged during extreme climatic events, such as heatwaves. Here, we examined how the 2018 European heatwave (HW) affected...

Tackling the accelerated human-induced biodiversity loss requires tools able to map biodiversity and its changes globally. Remote sensing (RS) offers unique capabilities of characterizing Earth surfaces; therefore, it could map plant biodiversity continuously and globally. This approach is supported by the Spectral Variation Hypothesis (SVH), which...

High temporal resolution measurements of solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (F) and the Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI) encode vegetation functioning. However, these signals are modulated by time‐dependent processes. We tested the applicability of the Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) for disentangling fast components (physiology‐driven) a...

The coupling of radiative transfer, energy balance, and photosynthesis models has brought new opportunities to characterize vegetation functional properties from space. However, these models do not accurately represent processes in ecosystems characterized by mixtures of green vegetation and senescent plant material (SPM), in particular grasslands....

Solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) provides remotely sensible signals for monitoring gross primary production (GPP). Ground‐based multiangle observations of both red and far‐red SIF above wheat and maize canopies were conducted to examine angular effects on SIF. With these new measurements, we were able for the first time to refine and ap...

Nutrient availability, especially of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), is of major importance for every organism and at a larger scale for ecosystem functioning and productivity. Changes in nutrient availability and potential stoichiometric imbalance due to anthropogenic nitrogen deposition might lead to nutrient deficiency or alter ecosystem functi...

Analyzing tree structural features and capturing their temporal dynamic is challenging but crucial for determining key state variables related to plant function, management practices, and aboveground vegetation stocks. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) provides a mean for representing those key variables in three-dimensional space and through time....

The inter-annual variability (IAV) of the terrestrial carbon cycle is tightly linked to the variability of semi-arid ecosystems. Thus, it is of utmost importance to understand what the main meteorological drivers for the IAV of such ecosystems are, and how they respond to extreme events such as droughts and heatwaves. To shed light onto these quest...

This is the supplementary material to the manuscript 'Drought and heatwave impacts on semi-arid ecosystems' carbon fluxes along a precipitation gradient'

p>Mixed vegetation systems such as wood pastures and shrubby pastures are vital for extensive and sustainable livestock production as well as for the conservation of biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services, and are mostly located in areas that are expected to be more strongly affected by climate change. However, the structural characterist...

Anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition and resulting differences in ecosystem N and phosphorus (P) ratios are expected to impact photosynthetic capacity, i.e. maximum gross primary productivity (GPPmax). However, the interplay between N and P availability with other critical resources on seasonal dynamics of ecosystem productivity remain largely unk...

Abstract. Remote Sensing (RS) has traditionally provided estimates of key biophysical properties controlling light interaction with the canopy (e.g., chlorophyll content ( C _ab) or leaf area index (LAI)). However, recent and upcoming developments in hyperspectral RS are expected to lead to a new generation of products such as vegetation...

Semi-arid grasslands and other ecosystems combine green and senescent leaves featuring different biochemical and optical properties, as well as functional traits. Knowing how these properties vary is necessary to understand the functioning of these ecosystems. However, differences between green and senescent leaves are not considered in recent mode...

The increasing amount of continuous time series of solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) and vegetation indices (e.g. Photochemical Reflectance Index, PRI) acquired with high temporal (sub-minute) frequencies is foreseen to allow tracking of the structural and physiological changes of vegetation in a variety of ecosystems. Coupled with observations of C...

Sun-Induced fluorescence at 760 nm (F760) is increasingly being used to predict gross primary production (GPP) through light use efficiency (LUE) modeling, even though the mechanistic processes that link the two are not well understood. We analyzed the effect of nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) availability on the processes that link GPP and F760 i...

The most recent efforts to provide remote sensing (RS) estimates of plant function rely on the combination of Radiative Transfer Models (RTM) and Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer (SVAT) models, such as the Soil-Canopy Observation Photosynthesis and Energy fluxes (SCOPE) model. In this work we used ground spectro-radiometric and chamber-based CO...

Growing interest in the proximal sensing of sun‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) has been boosted by space-based retrievals and up-coming missions such as the FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX). The European COST Action ES1309 “Innovative optical tools for proximal sensing of ecophysiological processes” (OPTIMISE, ES1309; https://optimise.dcs.aber....

The interest of the scientific community on the remote observation of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) has increased in the recent years. In this context, hyperspectral ground measurements play a crucial role in the calibration and validation of future satellite missions. For this reason, the European cooperation in science and technology...

Imaging and non-imaging spectroscopy employed in the field and from aircraft is frequently used to assess biochemical, structural, and functional plant traits, as well as their dynamics in an environmental matrix. With the increasing availability of high-resolution spectroradiometers, it has become feasible to measure fine spectral features, such a...

The authors modify the schematic plots in their article [...]

The 3-D Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) FLIGHT can represent scattering in open forest or savannas featuring underlying bare soils. However, FLIGHT might not be suitable for multilayered tree-grass ecosystems (TGE), where a grass understory can dominate the reflectance factor (RF) dynamics due to strong seasonal variability and low tree fractional c...

To understand what is driving spatial flux variability within a savanna type ecosystem in central Spain, data of three co-located eddy covariance (EC) towers in combination with hyperspectral airborne measurements and footprint analysis were used. The three EC systems show consistent, and unbiased mass and energy fluxes. Nevertheless, instantaneous...

Tree-grass ecosystems are widely distributed. However, their phenology has not yet been fully characterized. The technique of repeated digital photographs for plant phenology monitoring (hereafter referred as PhenoCam) provide opportunities for long-term monitoring of plant phenology, and extracting phenological transition dates (PTDs, e.g., start...

Este trabajo aborda la estimación de variables biofísicas de un pastizal de dehesa a partir de información óptica generada por sensores próximos y remotos. Las variables de contenido de humedad del combustible (FMC), contenido de agua del dosel (CWC), índice de área foliar (LAI), materia seca (Cm) y biomasa superficial (AGB) fueron estimadas en lab...

Spatio-temporal mismatches between Remote Sensing (RS) and Eddy Covariance (EC) data as well as spatial heterogeneity jeopardize terrestrial Gross Primary Production (GPP) modeling. This article combines: (a) high spatial resolution hyperspectral imagery; (b) EC footprint climatology estimates; and (c) semi-empirical models of increasing complexity...

We evaluated the underlying causes of differences between latent heat (LE) fluxes measured with two enclosed-path eddy covariance systems (EC) at two measurement levels and independent estimates in an open oak-tree grass savannah over almost one year. Estimates of LE of the well-stablished underlying grass by replicated weighable tension-controlled...

Sun-induced fluorescence (SIF) in the far-red region provides a new noninvasive measurement approach that has the potential to quantify dynamic changes in light-use efficiency and gross primary production (GPP). However, the mechanistic link between GPP and SIF is not completely understood. We analyzed the structural and functional factors controll...

The development of tower-mounted automated multi-angular hyperspectral systems has brought new opportunities and challenges for the characterization of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) on a continuous basis. This study describes the deployment of one of these systems in a Mediterranean savanna ecosystem (AMSPEC-MED), and p...

In the context of the BIOSPEC and FLUXPEC projects (http://www.lineas.cchs.csic.es/fluxpec/), spectral and biophysical variables measurements at leaf level have been conducted in the tree canopy of a holm oak dehesa (Quercus ilex) ecosystem during four vegetative periods. Measurements of bi-conical reflectance factor of intact leaf (ASD Fieldspec 3...

Conference Poster

Resolving the spatial and temporal dynamics of gross primary productivity (GPP) of terrestrial ecosystems across different scales remains a challenge. Remote sensing is regarded as the solution to upscale point observations conducted at the ecosystem level, using the eddy covariance (EC) technique, to the landscape and global levels. In addition to...

Resumen: En el contexto de los proyectos BIOSPEC y FLUXPEC (http://www.lineas.cchs.csic.es/fluxpec/), se han realizado mediciones espectrales y de variables biofísicas a nivel de hoja en el dosel arbóreo de una dehesa de encina (Quercus ilex) durante cuatro períodos vegetativos. Se han llevado a cabo mediciones de reflectividad bi-cónica de hoja in...

In this study we analyzed the potential of airborne hyperspectral images acquired by the CASI sensor (Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager) to estimate water content in the grass layer of a dehesa ecosystem. It was estimated by means of biophysical variables as Canopy Water Content (CWC), Fuel Moisture Content (FMC) and Equivalent Water Thickness...

This study evaluates three different metrics of vegetation water content estimated from proximal sensing and MODIS satellite imagery: Fuel Moisture Content (FMC), Equivalent Water Thickness (EWT) and Canopy Water Content (CWC). Dry matter (Dm) and Leaf area Index (LAI) were also analyzed in order to connect FMC with EWT and EWT with CWC, respective...

This study evaluates three different metrics of water content of an herbaceous cover in a Mediterranean wooded grassland (dehesa) ecosystem. Fuel moisture content (FMC), equivalent water thickness (EWT) and canopy water content (CWC) were estimated from proximal sensing and MODIS satellite imagery. Dry matter (Dm) and leaf area index (LAI) connect...

Resolving the spatial and temporal dynamics of gross primary productivity (GPP) of terrestrial ecosystems across different scales remains a challenge. Remote sensing is regarded as the solution to upscale point observations conducted at the ecosystem level, using the eddy covariance (EC) technique, to the landscape and global levels. In addition to...

Field spectroradiometers integrated in automated systems at Eddy Covariance (EC) sites are a powerful tool for monitoring and upscaling vegetation physiology and carbon and water fluxes. However, exposure to varying environmental conditions can affect the functioning of these sensors, especially if these cannot be completely insulated and stabilize...

En este trabajo se analizael potencialdelsensoraeroportadoCASI(Compact AirborneSpectrographicImager)para estimar el contenido en humedadde la cubierta herbácea de un área de dehesa. Éste fue cuantificado mediante las variables CanopyWater Content (CWC),Fuel Moisture Content (FMC) y EquivalentWaterThickness (EWT), calculadas a partir de muestras de...

The REFLEX 2012 campaign was initiated as part of a training course on the organization of an airborne campaign to support advancement of the understanding of land-atmosphere interaction processes. This article describes the campaign, its objectives and observations, remote as well as in situ. The observations took place at the experimental Las Tie...

We report a nonlinearity effect related to the integration time in a double-beam spectroradiometer equipped with two negative-module metal–oxide semiconductor (NMOS) sensors. This effect can be explained by the addition of photoelectrons produced by the radiant flux on the sensors during the readout phase to the photoelectrons produced during the m...

The direct estimation of nitrogen (N) in fresh vegetation is challenging due to its weak influence on leaf reflectance and the overlaps with absorption features of other compounds. Different empirical models relate in this work leaf nitrogen concentration ([N]Leaf) on Holm oak to leaf reflectance as well as derived spectral indices such as normaliz...

We report the characterization and correction of nonlinear responses of a commercial field portable spectroradiometer intended to be used to monitor vegetation physiology. Calibration of photoresponse allowed the successful correction of spectral data and the modeling of biases in reflectance at different levels of the dynamic range. Finally, the i...

We describe the results of an experiment designed to compare the radiometric performance of four different spectroradiometers in ideal field conditions. A carefully designed experiment where instruments were simultaneously triggered was used to measure the Hemispherical Conical Reflectance Factors (HCRF) of four targets of varying reflectance. The...

This paper validates different MODIS products using in situ field measurements. To this end, a temporal series of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI, MOD/MYD13Q1), leaf area index (LAI, MOD/MYD/MCD15A2) and gross primary productivity (GPP, MOD/MY17A2) products acquired between 2009 and 2011 are analysed.The study area is located in a “deh...

Holm oak Leaf Nitrogen Content (LNC) has been estimated in a Mediterranean savanna ecosystem "dehesa" in the Iberian Peninsula using an ASD FieldSpec° FR3 spectroradiometer connected to a Plant Probe with Leaf Clip (www.asdi.com). One of each ten bands between 400nm and 2500nm were selected, and two different Three Bands Indexes (TBI) with all the...