DeconstructIng Forest Functions Under Scattered Incident radiatiON

Objective

Unprecedented changes in the properties of sunlight incident on forests worldwide are resulting from regional reverberations from climate change. Climate-intervention strategies also plan to diffuse more radiation to cool the Earth. Because diffuse/direct radiation behave differently within canopies, these changes are expected to have dramatic repercussions for ecosystem carbon balance. Research has so far failed to elucidate the interplay of these mechanisms operating at each level within the canopy, limiting our predictions of forests’ responses to projected patterns of radiation. First, we will evaluate the contribution of canopy vertical structure to forest response under diffuse light. Then, we will quantify the effect of transient clouds movements on forest carbon storage. Measurements throughout the canopy and with diffuse filters will consider the canopy not only in its spatial heterogeneity, but as a temporally dynamic system subject to an ever-changing environment. I project to upscale these elements together using bottom-up modelling, to identify the key processes that underpin forest response to diffuse radiation.