—Canopy coverage is a key variable used to characterize forest structure. In addition, the light transmitted through the canopy is an important ecological indicator of plant and animal habitat and understory climate conditions. A common groundbased method used to document canopy coverage is to take digital photographs from below the canopy. To assist with analyzing below-canopy photographs, the...

Surface roughness parameters, namely the roughness length and displacement height, are an integral input used to model surface fluxes. However, most models assume these parameters to be a fixed property of plant functional type and disregard the governing structural heterogeneity and dynamics. In this study, we use large-eddy simulations to explore, in silico, the effects of canopy-structure ch...

This paper presents a method for evaluating the UV and biologically effective exposures to a plant canopy during the irradiation of soybean with supplemental levels of UV radiation in a greenhouse study. The method employs four materials as dosimeters that allow evaluation of the UV spectra. The exposures evaluated at three growth stages were less by factors of 0.44, 0.49 and 0.56 compared to t...

Fungicides manufactured to control soybean rust are effective; however, successful control of this disease will mostly depend on proper application methods. Spray coverage and deposition from 9 application equipment/spray nozzles were analyzed. In general, the spray treatments with air assistance were more effective in spraying rust fungicides than the treatments with the conventional boom spra...

This study explores the relationship between laser waveforms and canopy structure parameters and the effects of the spatial arrangement of canopy structure on this relationship through a geometric optical model. Studying laser waveforms for such plant canopies is needed for the advanced retrieval of three-dimensional (3-D) canopy structure parameters from the vegetation canopy lidar (VCL) missi...

Worldwide expansion of agriculture is impacting the earth’s climate by altering carbon, water, and energy fluxes, but the climate in turn is impacting crop production. To study this two-way interaction and its impact on seasonal dynamics of carbon, water, and energy fluxes, we implemented dynamic crop growth processes into a land surface model, the Integrated Science Assessment Model (ISAM). In...

Ecosystem physical structure, defined by the quantity and spatial distribution of biomass, influences a range of ecosystem functions. Remote sensing tools permit the non-destructive characterization of canopy and root features, potentially providing opportunities to link aboveand belowground structure at fine spatial resolution in functionally meaningful ways. To test this possibility, we emplo...