Ruzena Janoutova

• Doctor of Philosophy
• PostDoc Position at Global Change Research Institute CAS

Plant functional traits have been extensively studied using remote sensing. In this study, we compared three approaches for retrieving leaf chlorophyll and carotenoid content in the Lanžhot forest, Czech Republic. For the statistical-based approach, we used field data for both training (calibration portion) and validating (test portion) the models....

The inadequacy of Norway spruce (NS) monocultures in fulfilling ecosystem services, due to deteriorating health and consequent forest ecosystem collapses, has recently become a concerning issue for the forestry sector in Central Europe. This study investigates spruce forest productivity using in-situ field observations (DendroNetwork) and satellite...

Accurate retrieval of forest functional traits from remote sensing data is critical for monitoring forest health and productivity. To achieve sufficient accuracy using inverse methods it is essential to have representative database of simulated or measured spectral properties together with corresponding forest traits. However, existing datasets are...

Physically based models simulating the spectral transmittance of solar radiation through forest canopies are useful tools for examining the connections between the shortwave radiation environment and the productivity and biodiversity of the forest floor. We report a comprehensive evaluation of two approaches simulating forest canopy spectral transm...

Plant functional diversity (FD) is a component of biodiversity linking plant functional traits to ecosystem processes (e.g., photosynthesis) and services (e.g., gross primary production). Development of remote sensing capabilities to monitor forest FD across various spatio-temporal scales is critical, especially in view of increasing global climate...

In this study, we demonstrated feasibility of a full threedimensional (3D) reconstruction of a spatially and structurally heterogeneous forest stand of tall Australian eucalypt trees from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) of individual trees. We provide a direct validation of the Discrete Anisotropic Radiative Transfer (DART) model bidirectional Mon...

Synergies of optical, thermal and laser scanning remotely sensed data provide valuable information to study the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. One of the few fully operational airborne multi-sensor platforms for ecosystem research in Europe is the Flying Laboratory of Imaging Systems (FLIS), operated by the Global Change Resea...

Clumping describes the spatial distribution of foliage elements (leaves or needles) within a vegetation canopy. Clumping information is important for determining the radiation transfer through canopies, photosynthesis, and hydrological processes. Clumping of needles in shoots in conifer stands has posed a challenge because optical instruments have...

Solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) is a subtle but informative optical signal of vegetation photosynthesis. Remotely sensed SIF integrates environmental, physiological and structural changes that alter photosynthesis at leaf, plant and canopy scales. Radiative transfer models are ideally suited to investigate the complex sources of variability in the...

This study presents a method for three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of forest tree species that are, for instance, required for simulations of 3D canopies in radiative transfer modelling. We selected three forest species of different architecture: Norway spruce (Picea abies) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica), representatives of European produ...

Scaling leaf-level optical signals to the canopy level is essential for airborne and satellite-based forest monitoring. In evergreen trees, biophysical and optical traits may change as foliage ages. This study aims to evaluate the effect of age in Norway spruce needle on biophysical trait-prediction based on laboratory leaf-level spectra. Mature No...

Central European forests suffered from severe, large-scale atmospheric depositions of sulfur and nitrogen due to coal-based energy production during the 20th century. High deposition of acid compounds distorted soil chemistry and had negative effects on forest physiology and growth. Since 1994, continuous data on atmospheric deposition and stream r...

Forest aboveground biomass (AGB) is an important variable in assessing carbon stock or ecosystem functioning, as well as for forest management. Among methods of forest AGB estimation laser scanning attracts attention because it allows for detailed measurements of forest structure. Here we evaluated variables that influence forest AGB estimation fro...

Advances in high-performance computer resources and exploitation of high-density terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data allow for reconstruction of close-to-reality 3D forest scenes for use in canopy radiative transfer models. Consequently, our main objectives were (i) to reconstruct 3D representation of Norway spruce (Picea abies) trees by deriving...

Remote sensing offers an effective way of mapping vegetation parameters in a spatially continuous manner, at larger spatial scales and repeatedly in time compared to traditional in situ mapping approaches that are typically accurate, but limited to a few distributed location and few repetitions. In case of forest ecosystems, remote sensing allow to a...

In this study we evaluated various spectral inputs for retrieval of forest chlorophyll content (Cab) and leaf area index (LAI) from high spectral and spatial resolution airborne imaging spectroscopy data collected for two forest study sites in the Czech Republic (beech forest at Štítná nad Vláří and spruce forest at Bílý Kříž). The retrieval algori...

In this study we evaluated various spectral inputs for retrieval of forest chlorophyll content (Cab) and leaf area index (LAI) from high spectral and spatial resolution airborne imaging spectroscopy data collected for two forest study sites in the Czech Republic (beech forest at Štítná nad Vláří and spruce forest at Bílý Kříž). The retrieval algori...

Remote estimation of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence emitted by terrestrial vegetation can provide an unparalleled opportunity to track spatio-temporal variations of photosynthetic efficiency. Here we provide the first direct experimental evidence that the two peaks of the chlorophyll fluorescence spectrum can be accurately mapped from high-re...

Canopy radiative transfer (RT) models are simulation tools which can be used to quantify relationships between vegetation biochemical and structural properties and observed remotely sensed data. This study aims at creating a spruce tree growth model as a key input for use in RT models. The spruce tree model is built on data obtained from terrestria...

Structural parameters of forest stands/ecosystems are an important complementary source of information to spectral signatures obtained from airborne imaging spectroscopy when quantitative assessment of forest stands are in the focus, such as estimation of forest biomass, biochemical properties (e.g. chlorophyll /water content), etc. The parameteriz...