Nitrogen cycling, forest canopy reflectance, and emergent properties of ecosystems

In Ollinger et al. (1), we reported that mass-based concentrations of nitrogen in forest canopies (%N) are positively associated with whole-canopy photosynthetic capacity and canopy shortwave albedo in temperate and boreal forests, the latter result stemming from a positive correlation between %N and canopy near infrared (NIR) reflectance. This finding is intriguing because a functional link between %N and NIR reflectance could indicate an influence of nitrogen cycling on surface energy exchange, and could provide a means for estimating %N using broad-band satellite sensors