Exploring tropical forests with imaging spectroscopy

Tropical forests are vast regions harboring high biological diversity and unknown functional diversity.  Exploring tropical forests requires approaches that defy traditional field and satellite methods.  With imaging spectroscopy, we can unravel the mystery of how tropical forests are assembled.  Spectroscopy provides a window into the chemical composition of forests, from a vantage point like none other -- the upper skin of the canopy.  New results reveal that Amazonian tropical forest canopies are perhaps the most chemical diverse in the biosphere, and they are highly organized by the phylogeny of the tree communities that comprise them.