Preface

Part I. Plant Ecophysiology
1. An introduction to biogeography: broad-scale relationships amongst climate, vegetation distribution and vegetation attributes
2. An introduction to plant structure and ecophysiology
3. Water relations, hydraulic architecture and transpiration by plants

Part II. Remote Sensing
4. Remote sensing: introduction and overview
5. Fundamentals and physical principles of remote sensing
6. Satellite Sensors and Platforms
7. Remote sensing of landscape biophysical properties

Part III. Modelling
8. An introduction to modelling in plant ecophysiology
9. Modelling radiation exchange of leaves and canopies
10. Modelling leaf and canopy photosynthesis
11. Modelling stomatal conductance
12. Modelling leaf and canopy water fluxes and the SPAC
13. Coupling models of photosynthesis, transpiration, stomatal conductance and environmental controls of fluxes

Part IV. Case Studies
14. Boreal forests
15. Arid and semi-arid grasslands
16. Case study: savannas
17. Seasonal behaviour of vegetation of the Amazon Basin
18. Case study: tropical montane forests
19. Groundwater dependent ecosystems
20. Global change drought and forest mortality

Index

Professor Alfredo Huete is a professor in the School of Life Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney. He is a world renowned geospatial ecologist who uses advanced remote sensing tools to assess broad scale ecosystem functioning, vegetation phenology and health. He uses satellite and field observations to assess land surface interactions and ecosystem resilience with climate, land use activities and major disturbance and extreme events. Professor Huete has twenty-five years experience in vegetation remote sensing for NASA mission teams. He is a founding and continuing member of the NASA-EOS MODIS Science Team. In recognition of his pioneering work in the design of vegetation satellite products used by the remote sensing community to assess vegetation biophysical states and processes of global ecosystems, he earned a NASA Service Achievement Award for NASA MODIS Product Development and a NASA Group Achievement Award for the Suomi NPP Mission Development Team. The satellite products he developed are among the most widely used by the scientific community and natural resource and agriculture stakeholders. He has published several high impact papers in journals such as Nature, Science, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Professor Qiang Yu was appointed Professor of Ecological Modelling at the University of Technology, Sydney in 2008. He joined UTS from the Chinese Academy of Science, where he had been appointed professor in the prestigious 'Hundred Talents Program' in 1997. He authored the book Ecological Processes and Modelling in Farmland in 2007. His principal research interests are ecophysiological modelling, land surface processes modelling, crop growth modelling, spatial analysis and water resources management, and he also has expertise in ecological and micrometeorological measurement techniques. Professor Yu has evaluated many ecosystem models using data from the Chinese Ecological Research Network, including WOFOST, RZWQM, APSIM, SHAW and CABLE. These models have been applied to elucidate climate change/variability impacts, plant production and water use and management. Professor Yu is the author of the China Agricultural Ecosystem Model (ChinaAgrosys). In 2005 he was awarded the prestigious Sir Frederick McMaster Fellowship by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).