Compatibility of Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR for Quantifying Forest Structural Diversity
Structural diversity is a key feature of forest ecosystems that influences ecosystem functions from local to macroscales. The ability to measure structural diversity in forests with varying ecological composition and management history can improve the understanding of linkages between forest structu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-04-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/9/1407 |
| _version_ | 1797569279666683904 |
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| author | Elizabeth A. LaRue Franklin W. Wagner Songlin Fei Jeff W. Atkins Robert T. Fahey Christopher M. Gough Brady S. Hardiman |
| author_facet | Elizabeth A. LaRue Franklin W. Wagner Songlin Fei Jeff W. Atkins Robert T. Fahey Christopher M. Gough Brady S. Hardiman |
| author_sort | Elizabeth A. LaRue |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Structural diversity is a key feature of forest ecosystems that influences ecosystem functions from local to macroscales. The ability to measure structural diversity in forests with varying ecological composition and management history can improve the understanding of linkages between forest structure and ecosystem functioning. Terrestrial LiDAR has often been used to provide a detailed characterization of structural diversity at local scales, but it is largely unknown whether these same structural features are detectable using aerial LiDAR data that are available across larger spatial scales. We used univariate and multivariate analyses to quantify cross-compatibility of structural diversity metrics from terrestrial versus aerial LiDAR in seven National Ecological Observatory Network sites across the eastern USA. We found strong univariate agreement between terrestrial and aerial LiDAR metrics of canopy height, openness, internal heterogeneity, and leaf area, but found marginal agreement between metrics that described heterogeneity of the outermost layer of the canopy. Terrestrial and aerial LiDAR both demonstrated the ability to distinguish forest sites from structural diversity metrics in multivariate space, but terrestrial LiDAR was able to resolve finer-scale detail within sites. Our findings indicated that aerial LiDAR could be of use in quantifying broad-scale variation in structural diversity across macroscales. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T20:08:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a12adff0929a471d9deacdd73933f712 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T20:08:38Z |
| publishDate | 2020-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-a12adff0929a471d9deacdd73933f7122023-11-19T23:04:19ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922020-04-01129140710.3390/rs12091407Compatibility of Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR for Quantifying Forest Structural DiversityElizabeth A. LaRue0Franklin W. Wagner1Songlin Fei2Jeff W. Atkins3Robert T. Fahey4Christopher M. Gough5Brady S. Hardiman6Department of Forestry & Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USADepartment of Forestry & Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USADepartment of Forestry & Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USADepartment of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1000 W. Cary Street, Richmond, VA 23284, USADepartment of Natural Resources and the Environment and Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of Connecticut,1376 Storrs Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USADepartment of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1000 W. Cary Street, Richmond, VA 23284, USADepartment of Forestry & Natural Resources, Purdue University, 715 W. State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USAStructural diversity is a key feature of forest ecosystems that influences ecosystem functions from local to macroscales. The ability to measure structural diversity in forests with varying ecological composition and management history can improve the understanding of linkages between forest structure and ecosystem functioning. Terrestrial LiDAR has often been used to provide a detailed characterization of structural diversity at local scales, but it is largely unknown whether these same structural features are detectable using aerial LiDAR data that are available across larger spatial scales. We used univariate and multivariate analyses to quantify cross-compatibility of structural diversity metrics from terrestrial versus aerial LiDAR in seven National Ecological Observatory Network sites across the eastern USA. We found strong univariate agreement between terrestrial and aerial LiDAR metrics of canopy height, openness, internal heterogeneity, and leaf area, but found marginal agreement between metrics that described heterogeneity of the outermost layer of the canopy. Terrestrial and aerial LiDAR both demonstrated the ability to distinguish forest sites from structural diversity metrics in multivariate space, but terrestrial LiDAR was able to resolve finer-scale detail within sites. Our findings indicated that aerial LiDAR could be of use in quantifying broad-scale variation in structural diversity across macroscales.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/9/1407ALSforest ecologyforest structureNEONmacrosystems biologyTLS |
| spellingShingle | Elizabeth A. LaRue Franklin W. Wagner Songlin Fei Jeff W. Atkins Robert T. Fahey Christopher M. Gough Brady S. Hardiman Compatibility of Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR for Quantifying Forest Structural Diversity Remote Sensing ALS forest ecology forest structure NEON macrosystems biology TLS |
| title | Compatibility of Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR for Quantifying Forest Structural Diversity |
| title_full | Compatibility of Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR for Quantifying Forest Structural Diversity |
| title_fullStr | Compatibility of Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR for Quantifying Forest Structural Diversity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Compatibility of Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR for Quantifying Forest Structural Diversity |
| title_short | Compatibility of Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR for Quantifying Forest Structural Diversity |
| title_sort | compatibility of aerial and terrestrial lidar for quantifying forest structural diversity |
| topic | ALS forest ecology forest structure NEON macrosystems biology TLS |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/9/1407 |
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