View article

The surface of vascular plants is covered by epicuticular wax composed of a diverse array of organic compounds. While this surface wax layer plays critical roles ranging from water retention to plant defense, leaf waxes are rarely considered in spectral analysis of leaf properties. Hyperspectral imaging in the Visible to Shortwave Infrared (VSWIR;~ 400-2500 nm) is an increasingly promising method for remote sensing plant functional traits, biodiversity, and ecosystem attributes. Yet, it remains largely unknown how variation in reflectance due to leaf waxes fits into these other dimensions. Here, we ask whether leaf waxes contribute to interspecific differences in leaf reflectance. We collected leaves from thirty-three species of abundant perennial prairie grasses at the Konza Prairie Biological Station, a remnant North American tallgrass prairie. For these species, we measured full VSWIR leaf spectral reflectance before …