Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.3390/rs13010131
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Deriving tree size distributions of tropical forests from lidar
Author Taubert, F.; Fischer, R. ORCID logo ; Knapp, N.; Huth, A.
Source Titel Remote Sensing
Year 2021
Department OESA; iDiv
Volume 13
Issue 1
Page From art. 131
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Supplements https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/1/131/s1
Keywords lidar; remote sensing; lidar profile; stem diameter distribution; forest structure; tropical forests; Barro Colorado Island; leaf area distribution
Abstract Remote sensing is an important tool to monitor forests to rapidly detect changes due to global change and other threats. Here, we present a novel methodology to infer the tree size distribution from light detection and ranging (lidar) measurements. Our approach is based on a theoretical leaf–tree matrix derived from allometric relations of trees. Using the leaf–tree matrix, we compute the tree size distribution that fit to the observed leaf area density profile via lidar. To validate our approach, we analyzed the stem diameter distribution of a tropical forest in Panama and compared lidar-derived data with data from forest inventories at different spatial scales (0.04 ha to 50 ha). Our estimates had a high accuracy at scales above 1 ha (1 ha: root mean square error (RMSE) 67.6 trees ha-1 / normalized RMSE 18.8% / R² 0.76; 50 ha: 22.8 trees ha-1 / 6.2% / 0.89). Estimates for smaller scales (1-ha to 0.04-ha) were reliably for forests with low height, dense canopy or low tree height heterogeneity. Estimates for the basal area were accurate at the 1-ha scale (RMSE 4.7 tree ha-1, bias 0.8 m² ha-1) but less accurate at smaller scales. Our methodology, further tested at additional sites, provides a useful approach to determine the tree size distribution of forests by integrating information on tree allometries.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=24062
Taubert, F., Fischer, R., Knapp, N., Huth, A. (2021):
Deriving tree size distributions of tropical forests from lidar
Remote Sens. 13 (1), art. 131 10.3390/rs13010131