Vegetation structure & photosynthesis
How canopy architecture and 3-D radiative transfer shape global carbon uptake — and why Earth System Models underestimate photosynthesis when they ignore structure.
Research Scientist · Caltech & NASA JPL Affiliate
Renato K. Braghiere
I study land–atmosphere interactions and their response to global change, with an emphasis on the global carbon cycle — building more mechanistic land-surface models, from radiation in plant canopies to the nutrient economics of whole ecosystems, to sharpen projections of the living planet under future climate.
News
- 2026New paper in Science on the global density and biomass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks.
- Apr 2026Invited talk “Closing the Carbon Gap” at the 4th Dynamic Vegetation Modeling & Observations Conference, Woods Hole.
- 2025Co-first-author paper on leaf traits and vegetation optical properties published in Nature Communications.
- 2025SHIFT campaign vegetation traits & fluxes datasets released on CaltechDATA.
- 2023–2026Awarded a Resnick Sustainability Institute grant at Caltech.
What I work on
Carbon–nutrient economics
Representing carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles — including mycorrhizal symbioses — to project the true cost of plant nutrient acquisition under climate change.
Observation-guided modelling
Closing the land-carbon gap by fusing hyperspectral remote sensing, flux towers, and models (CliMA Land, CARDAMOM, ILAMB, TRENDY).
Data & tools
Interactive dashboards
Model-evaluation and benchmarking dashboards from my research, gathered in one place — including the new TRENDY dashboardand the full ILAMB suite. See Data & Tools.