Fluorescence line imager measured red edge shifts in a metal-stressed Norway spruce forest and their relationship to canopy biochemical and morphological changes

Spatial and spectral mode FLI airborne imaging spectrometer data obtained from a metal-stressed Norway spruce forest exhibiting subtle stress symptoms correlate poorly with changes in canopy chlorophyll content and biomass with respect to changes or " shifts" in the wavelength positions of the red chlorophyll absorptance well and the transition region between the red reflectance minimum and near-infrared reflectance maximum (the so-called " red edge" ) with " shift" directions being highly variable and displaying no clear trends relative to canopy stress conditions. The lack of strong relationships between canopy parameters that provide a measure of its health and vitality and canopy spectral features that are purported to give a reliable measure of changes in these features does not bode well for the use of the " red edge shift" as a consistent and unambiguous indicator of stress in coniferous forests especially for low or incipient levels of stress. 1.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.