Using lidar to assess the development of structural diversity in forests undergoing passive rewilding in temperate Northern Europe
Forested areas are increasing across Europe, driven by both reforestation programs and farmland abandonment. While tree planting remains the standard reforestation strategy, there is increased interest in spontaneous regeneration as a cost-effective method with equal or potentially greater benefits....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2019-01-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/6219.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797418538112122880 |
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| author | Henrik Thers Peder Klith Bøcher Jens-Christian Svenning |
| author_facet | Henrik Thers Peder Klith Bøcher Jens-Christian Svenning |
| author_sort | Henrik Thers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Forested areas are increasing across Europe, driven by both reforestation programs and farmland abandonment. While tree planting remains the standard reforestation strategy, there is increased interest in spontaneous regeneration as a cost-effective method with equal or potentially greater benefits. Furthermore, expanding areas of already established forests are left for passive rewilding to promote biodiversity conservation. Effective and objective methods are needed for monitoring and analyzing the development of forest structure under these management scenarios, with airborne laser scanning (lidar: light detection and ranging) being a promising methodology. Here, we assess the structural characteristics and development of unmanaged forests and 28- to 78-year old spontaneously regenerated forests on former agricultural land, relative to managed forests of similar age in Denmark, using 25 lidar-derived metrics in 10- and 30-m grid cells. We analyzed the lidar-derived cell values in a principal component analysis (PCA) and interpreted the axes ecologically, in conjunction with pairwise tests of median and variance of PCA-values for each forest. Spontaneously regenerated forest in general had increased structural heterogeneity compared to planted and managed forests. Furthermore, structural heterogeneity kept increasing in spontaneously regenerated forest across the maximal 78-year timespan investigated. Natural disturbances showed strong impacts on vegetation structure, leading to both structural homogeneity and heterogeneity. The results illustrate the utility of passive rewilding for generating structurally heterogeneous forested nature areas, and the utility of lidar surveys for monitoring and interpreting structural development of such forests. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:34:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-90122f839dad46b3bcd63bbe1aa9b11a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:34:20Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-90122f839dad46b3bcd63bbe1aa9b11a2023-12-03T11:00:28ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592019-01-016e621910.7717/peerj.6219Using lidar to assess the development of structural diversity in forests undergoing passive rewilding in temperate Northern EuropeHenrik Thers0Peder Klith Bøcher1Jens-Christian Svenning2Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Tjele, DenmarkCenter for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkCenter for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE), Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, DenmarkForested areas are increasing across Europe, driven by both reforestation programs and farmland abandonment. While tree planting remains the standard reforestation strategy, there is increased interest in spontaneous regeneration as a cost-effective method with equal or potentially greater benefits. Furthermore, expanding areas of already established forests are left for passive rewilding to promote biodiversity conservation. Effective and objective methods are needed for monitoring and analyzing the development of forest structure under these management scenarios, with airborne laser scanning (lidar: light detection and ranging) being a promising methodology. Here, we assess the structural characteristics and development of unmanaged forests and 28- to 78-year old spontaneously regenerated forests on former agricultural land, relative to managed forests of similar age in Denmark, using 25 lidar-derived metrics in 10- and 30-m grid cells. We analyzed the lidar-derived cell values in a principal component analysis (PCA) and interpreted the axes ecologically, in conjunction with pairwise tests of median and variance of PCA-values for each forest. Spontaneously regenerated forest in general had increased structural heterogeneity compared to planted and managed forests. Furthermore, structural heterogeneity kept increasing in spontaneously regenerated forest across the maximal 78-year timespan investigated. Natural disturbances showed strong impacts on vegetation structure, leading to both structural homogeneity and heterogeneity. The results illustrate the utility of passive rewilding for generating structurally heterogeneous forested nature areas, and the utility of lidar surveys for monitoring and interpreting structural development of such forests.https://peerj.com/articles/6219.pdfNatural regenerationLidarPassive rewildingDisturbancesVegetation structure |
| spellingShingle | Henrik Thers Peder Klith Bøcher Jens-Christian Svenning Using lidar to assess the development of structural diversity in forests undergoing passive rewilding in temperate Northern Europe PeerJ Natural regeneration Lidar Passive rewilding Disturbances Vegetation structure |
| title | Using lidar to assess the development of structural diversity in forests undergoing passive rewilding in temperate Northern Europe |
| title_full | Using lidar to assess the development of structural diversity in forests undergoing passive rewilding in temperate Northern Europe |
| title_fullStr | Using lidar to assess the development of structural diversity in forests undergoing passive rewilding in temperate Northern Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using lidar to assess the development of structural diversity in forests undergoing passive rewilding in temperate Northern Europe |
| title_short | Using lidar to assess the development of structural diversity in forests undergoing passive rewilding in temperate Northern Europe |
| title_sort | using lidar to assess the development of structural diversity in forests undergoing passive rewilding in temperate northern europe |
| topic | Natural regeneration Lidar Passive rewilding Disturbances Vegetation structure |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/6219.pdf |
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