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Harvard Forest Symposium Abstract 2013

  • Title: Investigations of Temperate Forest Phenology at the Harvard Forest
  • Primary Author: Michael P Toomey (Not Specified)
  • Additional Authors: Trevor Keenan (Harvard); Stephen Klosterman (Harvard University Herbaria); John O'Keefe (Harvard Forest); Andrew Richardson (Northern Arizona University)
  • Abstract:

    Plant phenology drives the timing, magnitude, and variability in exchanges of carbon and water between the biosphere and atmosphere. While phenological studies have garnered increasing attention in recent years, our understanding of phenological control on ecosystem functioning remains limited. Since 2008 we have been using cameras and radiometric instruments to investigate questions related to phenology, climate variability, and ecosystem function at Harvard Forest. These include, “How do environmental drivers regulate year-to-year variability in tree phenology within and across species?” and “How will temperate forest phenology respond to rising temperatures and changing precipitation regimes?”





    The Forest is a key node in Phenocam (http://phenocam.sr.unh.edu), a continental-scale network that uses digital cameras to monitor plant phenology in nearly all North American biomes. Cameras are mounted on the EMS, LPH, Hemlock, and Barn towers and are referenced to ground-based, organismal-level phenology observations. We use a suite of ecological and environmental data streams to derive improved image processing algorithms, validate remote sensing-based phenology products and examine the relationship between canopy phenology and biosphere-atmosphere exchanges. Additionally, the Harvard Forest tower network serves as a testing ground for novel radiometric and imaging techniques for phenological monitoring: GPS reflectometry, near-infrared enabled photography, high-frequency hyperspectral imaging, unmanned aerial vehicle platforms, and thermal imagery. These perspectives should yield new insights into canopy control on surface energy balance and co-evolution of leaf biochemistry and canopy phenology.


  • Research Category: Ecological Informatics and Modelling
    Forest-Atmosphere Exchange