The effects of increasing water constraint on vegetation growth: Insights from novel remote sensing observations from plot to globe
Climate warming is profoundly altering water availability from region to globe and these changes are impacting ecosystem functioning in complex ways, potentially resulting in strong feedbacks to future climate that are currently not well understood. Remote sensing observations present a powerful tool for high spatiotemporal monitoring of ecosystem functioning and vegetation-drought dynamics across spatiotemporal scales. In this talk, I will explore vegetation responses to a changing hydroclimate from plot to globe with a focus on novel remote sensing observations including solar-induced fluorescence, hyperspectral reflectance, and structural traits. Specifically, I will present results from: 1) a UArizona / USDA-ARS long-term, rainfall manipulation initiative; 2) a synthesis of more than 30 eddy flux tower sites distributed across the western US including a gradient of UArizona / USDA-ARS sites; 3) multi-sensor satellite observations at the global scale and spanning the last four decades.
