Elizabeth Stacy (Life Sciences) in collaboration with researchers from Arizona State University, has published a paper on in the journal Oecologia. This study examined the potential for imaging spectroscopy to distinguish varieties of a single polymorphic tree species and their F1 hybrids. The results indicate that spectral reflectance patterns were largely distinct among varieties of the keystone canopy tree, Metrosideros polymorpha on Hawaii Island and successfully distinguished some F1 genotypes from their parental varieties. This work quantifies a baseline in spectral variability for an endemic Hawaiian tree species and advances the use of imaging spectroscopy in biodiversity studies at the genetic level. Collaborators at Arizona State University are Ph.D. candidate, Megan Seeley, and Greg Asner and Robin Martin of ASU's Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science.
