Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) has become increasingly widespread throughout various fields as an alternative method for efficiently phenotyping crops and plants at rates unparalleled by conventional means. With growing reliability, the convergence of NIR spectroscopy and modern machine learning represent a promising methodology offering unprecedented access to rapid, high throughput phenotyping at negligible costs, representing prospects that excite agronomists and plant physiologists alike. However, as is true of all emergent methodologies, progressive refinement towards optimization exposes potential flaws and raises questions, one of which is the cornerstone of this study. Spectroscopic determination of plant functional traits utilizes plants' morphological and biochemical properties to make predictions, and has been validated at the community (inter-family) and individual crop (intraspecific) levels alike, yielding equally reliable predictions at both scales, yet what lies amid these poles on the spectrum of taxonomic scale remains unexplored territory. In this study, we replicated the protocol used in studies of the aforementioned taxonomic scale extremes and applied it to an intermediate scale. Interestingly, we found that predictive models built upon hyperspectral reflectance data collected across three genera of woody plants: Cornus, Rhododendron, and Salix, yielded inconsistent predictions of varying accuracy within and across taxa. Identifying the potential cause(s) underlying variability in predictive power at this intermediate taxonomic scale may reveal novel properties of the methodology, potentially permitting further optimization through careful consideration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses-1885 |
| Date | 01 January 2020 |
| Creators | Valdiviezo, Milton I |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Honors Undergraduate Theses |
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