Year
2018
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
School of Biological Sciences
Abstract
In recent years, airborne spectroradiometers have become sensitive enough to detect subtle increases and decreases in the depth of oxygen absorption lines caused by fluorescence emission from chlorophylls in plants. This fluorescence emission, termed solar induced fluorescence (SIF), is thought to contain information about photosynthesis, which could be utilised in both precision agriculture and dynamic global vegetation models to potentially help mitigate the threat to food security posed by anthropogenic climate change and a growing human population.
This PhD thesis is concerned with understanding the photosynthetic information in SIF at spatial scales ranging from the leaf to the canopy. To do this, a novel technique for remotely measuring photosynthesis, known as Light Induced Fluorescence Transients (LIFT), was coupled with a spectroradiometer, allowing for simultaneous measurements of SIF and photosynthesis. Given the novelty of the LIFT instrument for terrestrial photosynthetic measurements, I first provide a detailed overview of the LIFT instrument calibration and operation, and establish nomenclature for LIFT measurements and data processing. The LIFT instrument was then utilized in three field campaigns supported by laboratory measurements of leaf optical properties and pigments. The aims of these three field campaigns was to: 1) characterise LIFT for use in the field, 2) examine the relationship between photosynthesis and SIF on the leaf-level, and 3) understand the relationship between SIF and photosynthesis at different spatial scales...
Recommended Citation
Wyber, Rhys Adam, Linking spectral signals with novel photosynthetic parameters from the leaf to the canopy, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, 2018. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1/510
FoR codes (2008)
0607 PLANT BIOLOGY, 070303 Crop and Pasture Biochemistry and Physiology, 100101 Agricultural Biotechnology Diagnostics (incl. Biosensors), 060705 Plant Physiology
Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.