Effects of N fertilization on the relationship between photosynthetic light use efficiency and Photochemical reflectance index of wetland vegetation

Monitoring of light use efficient (LUE) over space and time is a critical component of climate change research as it is a major determinant of the amount of carbon accumulated by terrestrial ecosystems. PRI (Photochemical reflectance index) has provide a fast and reliable method for estimating photosynthetic light use efficiency across species. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of ground-based canopy reflectance measurements to detect changes in physiology of wetland vegetation in response to experimental nitrogen (N) treatment. In this paper, Bulrush with different nitrogen fertilization were selected to research the influence of varied fertilization levels on the relationship between PRI and LUE. The results proved that leaf chlorophyll contents as well as canopy PRI increased with the increase in nitrogen fertilization. For different nitrogen fertilization of Bulrush, the regression coefficients R2 varied respectively. Therefore, PRI not only can be a reliable indicator of LUE but also can reflect the growing situation of Bulrush with different precisions of LUE assessment.