Estimating below-canopy light regimes using airborne laser scanning: An application to plant community analysis.

ABSTRACT: Light is a key driver of forest biodiversity and functioning. Light regimes beneath tree canopies are mainly driven by the solar angle, topography, and vegetation structure, whose three-dimensional complexity creates heterogeneous light conditions that are challenging to quantify, especially across large areas. Remotely sensed canopy structure data from airborne laser scanning (ALS) provide outstanding opportunities for advancement in this respect. We used ALS point clouds and a digital terrain model to produce hemispherical photographs from which we derived indices of nondirectional diffuse skylight and direct sunlight reaching the understory. We validated our approach by comparing the performance of these indices, as well as canopy closure (CCl) and canopy cover (CCo), for explaining the

SUBMITTER: Zellweger F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6706208 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature