<p>Forest canopies are a critical component of forest
ecosystems as they influence many important functions. Specifically, the
structure of forest canopies is a driver of the magnitude and rate of these
functions. Therefore, being able to accurately measure canopy structure is
crucial to ensure ecological models and forest management plans are as robust
and efficient as possible. However, canopies are complex and dynamic entities
and thus their structure can be challenging to accurately measure. Here we study
the feasibility of using lidar to measure forest canopy structure across large
spatial extents by investigating the compatibility of aerial and terrestrial
lidar systems. Building on known structure-function relationships measured with
terrestrial lidar, we establish grounds for scaling these relationships to the aerial
scale. This would enable accurate measures of canopy structural complexity to
be acquired at landscape and regional scales without the time and labor
requirements of terrestrial data collection. Our results illustrate the potential
for measures of canopy height, vegetation area, horizontal cover, and canopy
roughness to be upscaled. Furthermore, we highlight the benefit of utilizing
multivariate measures of canopy structure, and the capacity of lidar to
identify forest structural types. Moving forward, lidar is a tool to be
utilized in tandem with other technologies to best understand the spatial and
temporal dynamics of forests and the influence of physical ecosystem
structure. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/9108068 |
| Date | 16 August 2019 |
| Creators | Franklin W Wagner (7022885) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Cross-Compatibility_of_Aerial_and_Terrestrial_Lidar_for_Quantifying_Forest_Structure/9108068 |
Page generated in 0.0034 seconds