Water stress assessment of cork oak leaves and maritime pine needles based on LIF spectra

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to develop a method for the remote assessment of the impact of fire and drought stress on Mediterranean forest species such as the cork oak (Quercus suber) and maritime pine (Pinus pinaster). The proposed method is based on laser induced fluorescence (LIF): chlorophyll fluorescence is remotely excited by frequency-doubled YAG:Nd laser radiation pulses and collected and analyzed using a telescope and a gated high sensitivity spectrometer. The plant health criterion used is based on the I 685/I 740 ratio value, calculated from the fluorescence spectra. The method was benchmarked by comparing the results achieved with those obtained by conventional, continuous excitation fluorometric method and water loss gravimetric measurements. The results obtained with both methods show a strong correlation between them and with the weight-loss measurements, showing that the proposed method is suitable for fire and drought impact assessment on these two species. © 2012 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.