Dr Benjamin Dechant

I am interested in the spatio-temporal patterns and dynamics of vegetation with a focus on photosynthesis, leaf/canopy traits, as well as diversity. I am using both measurements and models from the leaf over the canopy up to global scales and am working with remote sensing techniques that include reflectance-based approaches as well as those based on lidar and (sun-induced) chlorophyll fluorescence. In terms of modelling, I am using process-based models and statistical approaches (including ML) as well as their combination. Currently, I am working on the sDiv synthesis project sTRAITS: Integrating in-situ, upscaled and air- and spaceborne observations of plant traits.

2021 - : Postdoc, German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Synthesis Centre for Biodiversity Sciences (sDiv), Leipzig, Germany

2017-2021: Postdoc, Seoul National University, South Korea

2013-2017: PhD, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ / Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany

2007-2012: BSc Physics, MSc Ecology, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, France
(including gap year for language studies in East Asia 2009/2010)

2005-2007: Physics pre-diploma (Vordiplom), Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany

Dechant, B., Ryu, Y., Badgley, G., Köhler, P., Rascher, U., Migliavacca, M., Zhang, Y., Tagliabue, G., Guan, K., Rossini, M., Goulas, Y., Zeng, Y., Frankenberg, C., Berry, J.A., 2022. NIRvP: A robust structural proxy for sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthesis across scales. Remote Sensing of Environment 268, 112763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112763

Hase, N., Doktor, D., Rebmann, C., Dechant, B., Mollenhauer, H., Cuntz, M., 2022. Identifying the main drivers of the seasonal decline of near-infrared reflectance of a temperate deciduous forest. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 313, 108746. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108746

Zeng, Y., Chen, M., Hao, D., Damm, A., Badgley, G., Rascher, U., Johnson, J.E., Dechant, B., Siegmann, B., Ryu, Y., Qiu, H., Krieger, V., Panigada, C., Celesti, M., Miglietta, F., Yang, X., Berry, J.A., 2022. Combining near-infrared radiance of vegetation and fluorescence spectroscopy to detect effects of abiotic changes and stresses. Remote Sensing of Environment 270, 112856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112856

Kim, J., Ryu, Y., Dechant, B., Lee, H., Kim, H. S., Kornfeld, A., & Berry, J. A. (2021). Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence is non-linearly related to canopy photosynthesis in a temperate evergreen needleleaf forest during the fall transition. Remote Sensing of Environment, 258, 112362. doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112362

Baldocchi, D. D., Ryu, Y., Dechant, B., Eichelmann, E., Hemes, K., Ma, S., Rey Sanchez, C., Shortt, R., Szutu, D., Valach, A., Verfaillie, J., Badgley, G., Zeng, Y., & Berry, J. A. (2020). Outgoing Near Infrared Radiation from Vegetation Scales with Canopy Photosynthesis Across a Spectrum of Function, Structure, Physiological Capacity and Weather. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005534

Dechant, B., Ryu, Y., Badgley, G., Zeng, Y., Berry, J. A., Zhang, Y., Goulas, Y., Li, Z., Zhang, Q., Kang, M., Li, J., & Moya, I. (2020). Canopy structure explains the relationship between photosynthesis and sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence in crops. Remote Sensing of Environment, 241, 111733. doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.111733

Dechant, B., Ryu, Y., Kang, M. (2019) Making full use of hyperspectral data for gross primary productivity estimation with multivariate regression: Mechanistic insights from observations and process-based simulations. Remote Sensing of Environment 234, 111435. doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111435

Zeng, Y., Badgley, G., Dechant, B., Ryu, Y., Chen, M., & Berry, J. A. (2019). A practical approach for estimating the escape ratio of near-infrared solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence. Remote Sensing of Environment, 232,  111209. doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.05.028

Yang, K., Ryu, Y., Dechant, B., Berry, J. A., Hwang, Y., Jiang, C., … Yang, X. (2018). Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence is more strongly related to absorbed light than to photosynthesis at half-hourly resolution in a rice paddy. Remote Sensing of Environment, 216, 658–673. doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.07.008

Dechant, B., Cuntz, M., Vohland, M., Schulz, E., & Doktor, D. (2017). Estimation of photosynthesis traits from leaf reflectance spectra: Correlation to nitrogen content as the dominant mechanism. Remote Sensing of Environment, 196, 279–292. doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.05.019

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aGCI-yQAAAAJ&hl=en
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benjamin_Dechant
sDiv synthesis project sTRAITS: www.idiv.de/straits