Spectroscopic analysis of chlorophyll, carotenoids, nitrogen, and separability of two neotropical dioecious tree species

The expression of gender in the spectral properties and leaf chemistry was

 examined for Hyeronima alchorneoides and Virola koschnyi, two Neotropical dioecious

 tree species. Spectral Vegetation Indices (SVIs), pattern classifiers, Brattacharrya test

 statistic, Wilcoxon ranksum tests and the t-test were used to determine differences

 between leaves from the two genders. 20 leaves from nine trees (five females, 4 males) of

 each species were collected and the spectral signature was measured with the ASD

 FieldSpec Handheld spectrometer. Subsequently, a subset of 48 leaves from the 180 were

 cored and pigments were extracted to determine chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and

 carotenoid content. Nitrogen content was also determined. The SVIs indicated differences

 between male and female leaves for both H. alchorneoides and V. koschnyi, as did the

 pattern classifiers with 7.1 % error for H. alchorneoides and 5.3% error for V. koschnyi.

 Differences were also found for Chlorophyll a, Chlorophyll b, total Chlorophyll,

 carotenoids and nitrogen content among the genders.