Tropical tree size-frequency distributions from airborne lidar.
airborne lidar
crown area
individual tree crown
plot-level aboveground biomass
size-classes-level basal area
tree diameter
tree height
tree size frequency
Journal
Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America
ISSN: 1051-0761
Titre abrégé: Ecol Appl
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 9889808
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
10 2020
10 2020
Historique:
received:
19
08
2019
revised:
26
03
2020
accepted:
30
03
2020
pubmed:
30
4
2020
medline:
22
1
2021
entrez:
30
4
2020
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
In tropical rainforests, tree size and number density are influenced by disturbance history, soil, topography, climate, and biological factors that are difficult to predict without detailed and widespread forest inventory data. Here, we quantify tree size-frequency distributions over an old-growth wet tropical forest at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica by using an individual tree crown (ITC) algorithm on airborne lidar measurements. The ITC provided tree height, crown area, the number of trees >10 m height and, predicted tree diameter, and aboveground biomass from field allometry. The number density showed strong agreement with field observations at the plot- (97.4%; 3% bias) and tree-height-classes level (97.4%; 3% bias). The lidar trees size spectra of tree diameter and height closely follow the distributions measured on the ground but showed less agreement with crown area observations. The model to convert lidar-derived tree height and crown area to tree diameter produced unbiased (0.8%) estimates of plot-level basal area and with low uncertainty (6%). Predictions on basal area for tree height classes were also unbiased (1.3%) but with larger uncertainties (22%). The biomass estimates had no significant bias at the plot- and tree-height-classes level (-5.2% and 2.1%). Our ITC method provides a powerful tool for tree- to landscape-level tropical forest inventory and biomass estimation by overcoming the limitations of lidar area-based approaches that require local calibration using a large number of inventory plots.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e02154Subventions
Organisme : NASA Terrestrial Ecology
ID : WBS: 596741.02.01.01.67
Pays : International
Organisme : National Science Foundation
Pays : International
Organisme : NASA Postdoctoral Program
Pays : International
Informations de copyright
© 2020 by the Ecological Society of America.
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