Integration of trait evolution and leaf spectral models enables estimation of evolutionary parameters from spectra and simulation of leaf spectra along a phylogeny. Ancestral leaf attributes evolve along a phylogeny, generating the current leaf attributes that underlie spectra. From the evolved leaf attributes, radiative transfer models estimate spectra that carry the signature of the phylogeny (A). This framework allows us to infer the evolutionary dynamics of spectra and to predict spectral responses to evolutionary pressures (B) as well as to compute the probability that an unknown spectrum falls anywhere on the tree of life (C). 

 
  Part of: Cavender-Bares J, Reich PB, Townsend PA, Banerjee A, Butler E, Desai A, Gevens A, Hobbie SE, Isbell F, Laliberté E, Meireles JE, Menninger H, Pavlick RP, Pinto-Ledezma J, Potter C, Schuman MC, Springer N, Stefanski A, Trivedi P, Trowbridge A, Williams L, Willis CG, Yang Y (2021) BII-Implementation: The causes and consequences of plant biodiversity across scales in a rapidly changing world. Research Ideas and Outcomes 7: e63850. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.7.e63850