Project ID: 2006MD124B
Title: Salinity effects on using hyperspectral radiometry to determine leaf nitrogen of emergent wetland macrophytes
Project Type: Research
Start Date: 03/01/2006
End Date: 02/28/2007
Congressional District: 5th & 8th District of Maryland
Focus Categories: Ecology, Wetlands, Water Quality
Keywords: hyperspectral radiometry, wetland, nitrogen, salinity
Principal Investigators: Tilley, David R.;Baldwin, Andrew
Federal Funds: $29,957
Non-Federal Matching Funds: $61,092
Abstract: The Clean Water Act stipulates that States report the health and quality of all water bodies, including wetlands, in a National Water Quality Inventory Report, but only 4% of wetlands were included in the most recent edition. U.S. EPA Labs are working to promote the development of wetland assessment techniques so that by 2012 states can better report wetland health. Our research is focused on developing wetland hyperspectral radiometry as an assessment tool that would remotely quantify nitrogen in marsh plant tissue, and distinguish marshes by nitrogen availability for coastal environments where changes in salinity add to the difficulty in detecting nitrogen effects from spectroradiometric readings. Using a randomized block design experiment, we will use ground-based hyperspectral radiometry to measure the leaf reflectance of common emergent marsh macrophytes exposed to combinations of nitrogen and salinity in greenhouse microcosms. We will determine the significance of the effects of nitrogen and salinity on leaf hyperspectral reflectance and use the multivariate data analysis technique of partial least squares (PLS) regression to develop hyperspectral reflectance models predictive of leaf tissue nitrogen, soil nitrogen availability and salinity stress. The specific objectives are:
Plants will be collected from donor wetland sites in the College Park region and grown in the University's new Research Greenhouse Complex. The work will lead to fundamental understanding of hyperspectral reflectance response of wetland plants to nutrients and salinity and to a practical tool for assessing the health of wetlands.
Progress/Completion Report, PDF