Temporal disparity in leaf chlorophyll content and leaf area index across a growing season in a temperate deciduous forest

Spatial and temporal variations in canopy structure and leaf biochemistry have considerable influence on fluxes of CO2, water and energy and nutrient cycling in vegetation. Two vegetation indices (VI), NDVI and Macc01, were used to model the spatio-temporal variability of broadleaf chlorophyll content and leaf area index (LAI) across a growing season. Ground data including LAI, hyperspectral leaf reflectance factors (400–2500 nm) and leaf chlorophyll content were measured across the growing season and satellite-derived canopy reflectance data was acquired for 33 dates at 1200 m spatial resolution. Key phenological information was extracted using the TIMESAT software. Results showed that LAI and chlorophyll start of season (SOS) dates were at day of year (DOY) 130 and 157 respectively, and total season duration varied by 57 days. The spatial variability of chlorophyll and LAI phenology was also analyzed at the landscape scale to investigate phenological patterns over a larger spatial extent. Whilst a degree of spatial variability existed, results showed that chlorophyll SOS lagged approximately 20–35 days behind LAI SOS, and the end of season (EOS) LAI dates were predominantly between 20 and 30 days later than chlorophyll EOS. The large temporal differences between VI-derived chlorophyll content and LAI has important implications for biogeochemical models using NDVI or LAI to represent the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by a canopy, in neglecting to account for delays in chlorophyll production and thus photosynthetic capacity.