气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Using LiDAR to develop high-resolution reference models of forest structure and spatial pattern

CCPortal

DOI	10.1016/j.foreco.2018.12.012
	Using LiDAR to develop high-resolution reference models of forest structure and spatial pattern
	Wiggins H.L.; Nelson C.R.; Larson A.J.; Safford H.D.
发表日期	2019
ISSN	0378-1127
起始页码	318
结束页码	330
卷号	434
英文摘要	Successful restoration of degraded forest landscapes requires reference models that adequately capture structural heterogeneity at multiple spatial scales and for specific landforms. Despite this need, managers often lack access to reliable reference information, in large part because field-based methods for assessing variation in forest structure are costly and inherently suffer from limited replication and spatial coverage and, therefore, yield limited insights about the ecological structure of reference forests at landscape scales. LiDAR is a cost-effective alternative that can provide high-resolution characterizations of variation in forest structure among landform types. However, managers and researchers have been reluctant to use LiDAR for characterizing structure because of low confidence in its capacity to approximate actual tree distributions. By calculating bias in LiDAR estimates for a range of tree-height cutoffs, we improved LiDAR's ability to capture structural variability in terms of individual trees. We assessed bias in the processed LiDAR data by comparing datasets of field-measured and LiDAR-detected trees of various height classes in terms of overall number of trees and estimates of structure and spatial pattern in an important contemporary reference forest, the Sierra de San Pedro Martir National Park, Baja California, Mexico. Agreement between LiDAR- and field-based estimates of tree density, as well as estimates of forest structure and spatial pattern, was maximized by removing trees less than 12 m tall. We applied this height cutoff to LiDAR-detected trees of our study landscape, and asked if forest structure and spatial pattern varied across topographic settings. We found that canyons, shallow northerly, and shallow southerly slopes were structurally similar; each had a greater number of all trees, large trees, and large tree clumps than steep southerly slopes and ridges. Steep northerly slopes supported unique structures, with taller trees than ridges and shorter trees than canyons and shallow southerly slopes. Our results show that characterizations of forest structure based on LiDAR-detected trees are reasonably accurate when the focus is narrowed to the overstory. In addition, our finding of strong variation of forest structure and spatial pattern across topographic settings demonstrates the importance of developing reference models at the landscape scale, and highlights the need for replicated sampling among stands and landforms. Methods developed here should be useful to managers interested in using LiDAR to characterize distributions of medium and large overstory trees, particularly for the development of landscape-scale reference models. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
英文关键词	Ecological reference model; Forest structure; Landscape restoration; LiDAR; Sierra de San Pedro Martir; Spatial pattern; Spatial scale
语种	英语
scopus关键词	Conservation; Cost effectiveness; Ecology; Geomorphology; Importance sampling; Land reclamation; Landforms; Managers; Optical radar; Restoration; Forest structure; Landscape restoration; Reference modeling; Sierra de San Pedro Martir; Spatial patterns; Spatial scale; Forestry; canyon; forest canopy; forest management; heterogeneity; landscape change; lidar; numerical model; overstory; spatial analysis; Conservation; Cost Effectiveness; Ecology; Forestry; Land Reclamation; Restoration; Baja California [(STT) Mexico]; Caceres [Extremadura]; Extremadura; Mexico [North America]; Sierra de San Pedro; Spain
来源期刊	Forest Ecology and Management
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/156204
作者单位	W. A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812, United States; USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, 1323 Club Drive, Vallejo, CA 94592, United States
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Wiggins H.L.,Nelson C.R.,Larson A.J.,et al. Using LiDAR to develop high-resolution reference models of forest structure and spatial pattern[J],2019,434.
APA	Wiggins H.L.,Nelson C.R.,Larson A.J.,&Safford H.D..(2019).Using LiDAR to develop high-resolution reference models of forest structure and spatial pattern.Forest Ecology and Management,434.
MLA	Wiggins H.L.,et al."Using LiDAR to develop high-resolution reference models of forest structure and spatial pattern".Forest Ecology and Management 434(2019).