New paper from lab alum shows the power of hyperspectral data to predict genetic and environmental effects on cottonwood leaves

Dr. Jackie Corbin, who now works on actually applying restoration principles with NRCS, used hyperspectral reflectance of Fremont cottonwood leaves growing in multiple common gardens and at home to detect genetic, environmental, and gxe effects on spectral traits https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.15263. She showed we can detect a tree’s population of origin with high accuracy, even in a controlled environment, and also that common spectral indicators of photosynthetic capacity decline as trees are planted in hotter temperatures than they have evolved to deal with. Read all about it, open access in Plant, Cell, and Environment.