Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Hyperspectral imaging predicts differences in carbon and nitrogen status among representative biocrust functional groups of the Colorado Plateau

August 25, 2024

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are widespread soil photosynthetic communities covering about 12% of Earth's land surface and play crucial roles in terrestrial carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles, yet scalable quantifications of biocrusts and their biogeochemical contributions are notably lacking. While remote sensing has enormous potential to assess, scale, and contextualize biocrusts and their functions, the applicability of hyperspectral data in predicting C- and N-related biocrust traits remains largely unexplored. We address this issue by evaluating the potential of in situ hyperspectral data to predict C and N across a range of biocrust species and different environmental conditions. We found that in situ hyperspectral reflectance measurements can be used to predict biocrust tissue C/N ratios and N concentrations with relatively high accuracy but to a lesser extent for potential biocrust N2 fixation rates. Critical wavelength domains included the visible region of the spectrum from roughly 490–600 nm, which most effectively captured variations in biocrust tissue C, and the shortwave infrared region from 1,150 to 1,350 nm and 1,550–1,650 nm, which most effectively captured biocrust tissue N and N2 fixation potential. Finally, we provide evidence that multi- and hyperspectral missions with targeted band placement, such as the proposed 26-band Landsat Next, could be effective in predicting biocrust traits. This work provides a critical step in understanding how to apply data from new and upcoming satellite missions to the monitoring of biocrusts.

Publication Year 2024
Title Hyperspectral imaging predicts differences in carbon and nitrogen status among representative biocrust functional groups of the Colorado Plateau
DOI 10.1029/2024JG008089
Authors Dong Yan, Sasha C. Reed, William A. Rutherford, Mostafa Javadian, Robin H. Reibold, Miguel L. Villarreal, Benjamin Poulter, Shujun Song, William K. Smith
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
Index ID 70260972
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Southwest Biological Science Center; Western Geographic Science Center
Was this page helpful?