In a range of plant species from three Californian vegetation types, we examined the widely used "normalized difference vegetation index" (NDVI) and "simple ratio" (SR) as indicators of canopy structure, light absorption, and photosynthetic activity. These indices, which are derived from canopy reflectance in the red and near-infrared wavebands, highlighted phenological differences between evergreen and deciduous canopies. They were poor indicators of total canopy biomass due to the varying abundance of non-green standing biomass in these vegetation types. However, in sparse canopies (leaf area index [LAI]°0-2), NDVI was a sensitive indicator of canopy structure and chemical content (green biomass, green leaf area index, chlorophyll content, and foliar nitrogen content). At higher canopy green LAI values (>2; typical of dense shrubs and trees), NDVI was relatively insensitive to changes in canopy structure. Compared to SR, NDVI was better correlated with indicators of canopy structure and chemical content, but was equivalent to the logarithm of SR. In agreement with theoretical expectations, both NDVI and SR exhibited near-linear correlations with fractional PAR intercepted by green leaves over a wide range of canopy densities. Maximum daily photosynthetic rates were positively correlated with NDVI and SR in annual grassland and semideciduous shrubs where canopy development and photosynthetic activity were in synchrony. The indices were also correlated with peak springtime canopy photosynthetic rates in evergreens. However, over most of the year, these indices were poor predictors of photosynthetic performance in evergreen species due to seasonal reductions in photosynthetic radiation-use efficiency that occurred without substantial declines in canopy greenness. Our results support the use of these vegetation indices as remote indicators of PAR absorption, and thus potential photosynthetic activity, even in heterogeneous landscapes. To provide accurate estimates of vegetation-atmosphere gas fluxes, remote NDVI and SR measurements need to be coupled with careful estimates of canopy photosynthetic radiation-use efficiency.

Rapid environmental change at high latitudes is predicted to greatly alter the diversity, structure, and function of plant communities, resulting in changes in the pools and fluxes of nutrients. In Arctic tundra, increased nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability accompanying warming is known to impact plant diversity and ecosystem function; however, to date, most studies examining Arctic nutrient enrichment focus on the impact of relatively large (>25x estimated naturally occurring N enrichment) doses of nutrients on plant community composition and net primary productivity. To understand the impacts of Arctic nutrient enrichment, we examined plant community composition and the capacity for ecosystem function (net ecosystem exchange, ecosystem respiration, and gross primary production) across a gradient of experimental N and P addition expected to more closely approximate warming-induced fertilization. In addition, we compared our measured ecosystem CO ₂ flux data to a widely used Arctic ecosystem exchange model to investigate the ability to predict the capacity for CO ₂ exchange with nutrient addition. We observed declines in abundance-weighted plant diversity at low levels of nutrient enrichment, but species richness and the capacity for ecosystem carbon uptake did not change until the highest level of fertilization. When we compared our measured data to the model, we found that the model explained roughly 30%-50% of the variance in the observed data, depending on the flux variable, and the relationship weakened at high levels of enrichment. Our results suggest that while a relatively small amount of nutrient enrichment impacts plant diversity, only relatively large levels of fertilization-over an order of magnitude or more than warming-induced rates-significantly alter the capacity for tundra CO ₂ exchange. Overall, our findings highlight the value of measuring and modeling the impacts of a nutrient enrichment gradient, as warming-related nutrient availability may impact ecosystems differently than single-level fertilization experiments.