Article
Remote Sensing
Anna Iglseder, Markus Immitzer, Alena Dostalova, Andreas Kasper, Norbert Pfeifer, Christoph Bauerhansl, Stefan Schotl, Markus Hollaus
Summary: In this study, we investigated the benefit of combining airborne and satellite-based data for habitat classification. The results showed that models using combined data performed significantly better for forests than individual data sources. However, there were difficulties in correctly assigning rare habitat classes. The study also demonstrated the potential of the workflow for identifying errors in reference data and integrating it into habitat mapping and monitoring.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATION AND GEOINFORMATION
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Traci P. DuBose, Gina K. Himes Boor, Margaret Fields, Elizabeth L. Kalies, Ana Castillo, Matthew P. Moskwik, Jeffrey F. Marcus, Jeffrey R. Walters
Summary: Remote sensing data is a cost-effective and powerful method for determining ecosystem characteristics across large areas. In order to effectively conserve individual species, it is necessary to test whether remotely sensed habitat indices correspond to the suitability and value of those habitats for the species. This study built an open pine habitat quality index (HQI) using remote sensing data and found that it correlated with the presence of a bird species (red-cockaded woodpecker), but not with its demographic performance. The study suggests that linking generalized habitat indices to species suitability is possible and strengthens the justification for their use in large-scale conservation of imperiled ecosystems.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Matthew J. Sumnall, Ross A. Hill, Shelley A. Hinsley
Summary: In this study, 27 forest metrics were estimated using small-footprint full-waveform airborne laser scanning (ALS) data and a random forest (RF) approach. The study also assessed the forest condition using a subset of 17 metrics. The results showed that ALS data can be used for mapping and monitoring forest condition, improving forest ecological understanding and conservation efforts.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yang Liu, Alan D. Ziegler, Jie Wu, Shijing Liang, Dashan Wang, Rongrong Xu, Decha Duangnamon, Hailong Li, Zhenzhong Zeng
Summary: Protected areas have shown some effectiveness in preserving tropical mountain forests, although they still face challenges of illegal logging and population pressure. Forest loss rates are lower inside protected areas compared to outside, and are influenced by factors such as elevation, accessibility, and population. Additionally, there is a correlation between forest loss in protected areas and international maize prices.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bogdan Olariu, Marina Virghileanu, Bogdan-Andrei Mihai, Ionut Savulescu, Liviu Toma, Maria-Gianina Savulescu
Summary: Forest habitat fragmentation is a global environmental issue that requires continuous evaluation for sustainable management. This study evaluates the evolution of forest habitat in Romania's Bucegi Natural Park using historical and present-day data. The results show overall growth in forest area but increasing fragmentation in tourism development areas.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Langning Huo, Joachim Strengbom, Tomas Lundmark, Per Westerfelt, Eva Lindberg
Summary: In sustainable forest resource management, establishing forest conservation areas is crucial for maintaining forest biodiversity. However, assessing the conservation value of forests can be challenging due to their large and remote nature. This study explores the use of dense airborne laser scanning (ALS) data to estimate conservation values, specifically focusing on identifying different types of indicator trees.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Maxence Martin, Osvaldo Valeria
Summary: This research aims to determine the ability of Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) technology to identify age-related structural diversity in old-growth boreal forests. The study found that ALS technology can accurately distinguish between early and late old-growth forests, and revealed the presence of large tracts of late old-growth forests within old-growth forests of unknown age.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Forestry
D. Scridel, S. Tenan, M. Brambilla, R. Celva, A. Forti, I Fracasso, G. Volcan, E. Dorigatti, M. Anderle, A. Marchesini, B. Crestanello, C. Vernesi, P. Pedrini, P. Partel
Summary: Compared to old-growth forests, early-successional stands have been understudied in terms of species of conservation interest. This study focused on hazel grouse and found that early-successional secondary-growth forests formed after the abandonment of agropastoral activities benefited the bird species. Additionally, forest arthropods were identified as an important food source.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Adrian Pascual, Juan Guerra-Hernandez
Summary: Comparing ALS time-series is crucial for landscape conservation planning, especially in monitoring forest ecosystems. Modellers need to consider phenology when comparing ALS-based maps of ground elevation or canopy height between different years. This study demonstrates the comparison of two ALS surveys conducted in a National Park in Northwest Spain, using the same algorithms for data interpretation and generating digital terrain models and canopy height models. A hybrid approach was implemented to correct discrepancies caused by differences in phenology or scaling, reducing uncertainty and providing a solid evaluation of emerging problems in multi-temporal ALS surveys.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ziyu Sun, Weiguo Jiang, Ziyan Ling, Shiquan Zhong, Ze Zhang, Jie Song, Zhijie Xiao
Summary: Mangrove wetlands are important for global biodiversity and blue carbon reserves. Fine-scale monitoring and mapping of mangroves are crucial for conservation and management. This study proposes a method that considers mangrove habitat, tides, and semantic segmentation to achieve high accuracy in mangrove extraction using remote sensing.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Gabor Bako, Zsolt Molnar, Lilla Bakk, Ferenc Horvath, Luca Feher, Ors Abram, Edina Morvai, Csaba Biro, Gergely Papay, Attila Furesz, Karoly Penksza, Diana Pacsonyi, Krisztina Demeny, Erika Juhasz, Dorottya Dekany, Lili Csernyava, Gabor Illes, Andras Molnar
Summary: Aerial surveys combined with remote sensing technology can effectively monitor temporal changes in natural features, enabling precise monitoring of vegetation species and forest edge dynamics through high-resolution digital photos and spatial data models.
Article
Agronomy
Michiel Vandewiele, Lisa Geres, Annette Lotz, Lisa Mandl, Tobias Richter, Sebastian Seibold, Rupert Seidl, Cornelius Senf
Summary: Forests can serve as microrefugia for species under climate change due to the unique microclimates they create. However, the heterogeneous thermal patterns at the forest floor, especially in mountain forests, are not well understood. This study used LiDAR to predict summer temperature offsets in a mountain forest landscape in the European Alps, finding that forest canopy openness and elevation were important predictors. These temperature offset maps can improve species distribution models and assess climate risks for biodiversity.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Manuela Hirschmugl, Florian Lippl, Carina Sobe
Summary: This study examines the options for assessing vertical forest structure in a mountainous near-natural forest in the Austrian Alps using airborne and spaceborne LiDAR data. The indicators of foliage height diversity (FHD) and number of layers (NoL) are investigated. Expert-based assessment (EBA) outperforms break-detection algorithm (BDA) in terms of overall accuracy (OA) for estimating NoL. ALS data shows better OA for NoL than GEDI data. The usability of waveform-based structure parameters shows promise and should be further tested on larger areas.
Article
Ecology
Rumki Khatun, Swapan Talukdar, Swades Pal, Tamal Kanti Saha, Susanta Mahato, Sandipta Debanshi, Indrajit Mandal
Summary: This study investigated the vulnerability state of wetland habitat due to damming using machine learning models, finding differences in vulnerability states before and after damming. The study showed significant changes in wetland vulnerability status post-damming, with the PSO-RBF model identified as the most suitable representative model.
ECOLOGICAL INFORMATICS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Jessica M. Stitt, Andrew T. Hudak, Carlos A. Silva, Lee A. Vierling, Kerri T. Vierling
Summary: The study tested a method for quantifying canopy gaps around snags and live trees, finding that snags had more gaps surrounding them than live trees. It suggests that incorporating lidar-derived canopy gap analyses can improve snag modelling and enhance understanding of gap dynamics in closed-canopy forests. Highest differences in canopy gaps were observed at mid-canopy heights and smallest footprint size.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Alexander Damm, Eugenie Paul-Limoges, Daniel Kukenbrink, Christoph Bachofen, Felix Morsdorf
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Mattia Brambilla, Davide Scridel, Gaia Bazzi, Luca Ilahiane, Aaron Iemma, Paolo Pedrini, Enrico Bassi, Radames Bionda, Luigi Marchesi, Fulvio Genero, Norbert Teufelbauer, Remo Probst, Al Vrezec, Primoz Kmecl, Tomaz Mihelic, Giuseppe Bogliani, Hans Schmid, Giacomo Assandri, Renato Pontarini, Veronika Braunisch, Raphael Arlettaz, Dan Chamberlain
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Ilse Storch, Johannes Penner, Thomas Asbeck, Marco Basile, Juergen Bauhus, Veronika Braunisch, Carsten F. Dormann, Julian Frey, Stefanie Gaertner, Marc Hanewinkel, Barbara Koch, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Thomas Kuss, Michael Pregernig, Patrick Pyttel, Albert Reif, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Gernot Segelbacher, Ulrich Schraml, Michael Staab, Georg Winkel, Rasoul Yousefpour
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2020)
Review
Ecology
R. Valbuena, B. O'Connor, F. Zellweger, W. Simonson, P. Vihervaara, M. Maltamo, C. A. Silva, D. R. A. Almeida, F. Danks, F. Morsdorf, G. Chirici, R. Lucas, D. A. Coomes, N. C. Coops
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2020)
Article
Forestry
Katarzyna Zielewska-Buettner, Petra Adler, Sven Kolbe, Ruben Beck, Lisa Maria Ganter, Barbara Koch, Veronika Braunisch
Article
Agronomy
Daniel Kukenbrink, Fabian D. Schneider, Bernhard Schmid, Jean-Philippe Gastellu-Etchegorry, Michael E. Schaepman, Felix Morsdorf
Summary: The three-dimensional distribution of light within forest ecosystems plays a key role in species competition, coexistence, ecosystem functioning, productivity, and diversity. Recent advances in technology provide new insights into light distribution within forest canopies. Combining laser scanning and optical measurements, this study analyzes the impact of canopy structure and optical properties on light extinction in temperate and tropical forests. It is found that canopy structure drives light extinction, with tropical forests exhibiting larger 3D heterogeneity. The use of detailed 3D modeling is crucial for understanding light-related mechanisms affecting species in complex forest ecosystems.
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Zhaoju Zheng, Yuan Zeng, Fabian D. Schneider, Yujin Zhao, Dan Zhao, Bernhard Schmid, Michael E. Schaepman, Felix Morsdorf
Summary: This study introduces a method to measure forest functional diversity (FD) by mapping functional traits of over one million trees in a subtropical forest in China using LiDAR and imaging spectroscopy data. The results show consistent relationships between morphological and physiological traits at individual tree level, with morphological richness following a hump-shaped pattern along elevation gradients and physiological richness decreasing at very high densities. Functional richness demonstrates a logarithmic relationship with increasing area or number of individual trees, indicating predominant local trait convergence in the study area.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Daniel Kukenbrink, Oliver Gardi, Felix Morsdorf, Esther Thurig, Andreas Schellenberger, Lukas Mathys
Summary: This study demonstrates the potential of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) techniques for extracting detailed information on urban tree structure and above-ground biomass (AGB). The study found that TLS-derived AGB estimates showed good performance compared to destructively harvested references, offering a non-destructive and accurate method for estimating tree AGB across different species, sizes, and forms.
Article
Ecology
Carla Guillen-Escriba, Fabian D. Schneider, Bernhard Schmid, Andrew Tedder, Felix Morsdorf, Reinhard Furrer, Andreas Hueni, Pascal A. Niklaus, Michael E. Schaepman
Summary: Trait-based ecology has been challenging to combine field-based assessment methods with remote sensing approaches, but this study successfully integrated these two methods in a temperate forest setting. The results showed that taxonomic and environmental variation had significant impacts on plant traits, while within-species variation was influenced by small-scale spatial and residual variation.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Meinrad Abegg, Ruedi Boesch, Michael E. Schaepman, Felix Morsdorf
Summary: The study focuses on the impact of laser beam diameter and signal triggering on the quality of point clouds in forested environments. It shows that small objects are poorly represented in point clouds and are further affected by large laser beam diameters, dense forest stands, and long distances from the scanning device. Simulations provided in the study offer insights for decision-making regarding the selection of suitable TLS devices and survey configurations for forest inventories.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING
(2021)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
Hailan Jiang, Shiyu Cheng, Guangjian Yan, Andres Kuusk, Ronghai Hu, Yiyi Tong, Xihan Mu, Donghui Xie, Wuming Zhang, Guoqing Zhou, Felix Morsdorf
Summary: The clumping effect significantly affects LAI estimation, with different types and shapes of canopies being impacted differently. Neglecting within-crown clumping can lead to considerable underestimation of LAI, highlighting the need for further research on this aspect to improve future LAI retrieval methods.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Laura Duncanson, James R. Kellner, John Armston, Ralph Dubayah, David M. Minor, Steven Hancock, Sean P. Healey, Paul L. Patterson, Svetlana Saarela, Suzanne Marselis, Carlos E. Silva, Jamis Bruening, Scott J. Goetz, Hao Tang, Michelle Hofton, Bryan Blair, Scott Luthcke, Lola Fatoyinbo, Katharine Abernethy, Alfonso Alonso, Hans-Erik Andersen, Paul Aplin, Timothy R. Baker, Nicolas Barbier, Jean Francois Bastin, Peter Biber, Pascal Boeckx, Jan Bogaert, Luigi Boschetti, Peter Brehm Boucher, Doreen S. Boyd, David F. R. P. Burslem, Sofia Calvo-Rodriguez, Jerome Chave, Robin L. Chazdon, David B. Clark, Deborah A. Clark, Warren B. Cohen, David A. Coomes, Piermaria Corona, K. C. Cushman, Mark E. J. Cutler, James W. Dalling, Michele Dalponte, Jonathan Dash, Sergio de-Miguel, Songqiu Deng, Peter Woods Ellis, Barend Erasmus, Patrick A. Fekety, Alfredo Fernandez-Landa, Antonio Ferraz, Rico Fischer, Adrian G. Fisher, Antonio Garcia-Abril, Terje Gobakken, Jorg M. Hacker, Marco Heurich, Ross A. Hill, Chris Hopkinson, Huabing Huang, Stephen P. Hubbell, Andrew T. Hudak, Andreas Huth, Benedikt Imbach, Kathryn J. Jeffery, Masato Katoh, Elizabeth Kearsley, David Kenfack, Natascha Kljun, Nikolai Knapp, Kamil Kral, Martin Krucek, Nicolas Labriere, Simon L. Lewis, Marcos Longo, Richard M. Lucas, Russell Main, Jose A. Manzanera, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez, Renaud Mathieu, Herve Memiaghe, Victoria Meyer, Abel Monteagudo Mendoza, Alessandra Monerris, Paul Montesano, Felix Morsdorf, Erik Naesset, Laven Naidoo, Reuben Nilus, Michael O'Brien, David A. Orwig, Konstantinos Papathanassiou, Geoffrey Parker, Christopher Philipson, Oliver L. Phillips, Jan Pisek, John R. Poulsen, Hans Pretzsch, Christoph Rudiger, Sassan Saatchi, Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa, Nuria Sanchez-Lopez, Robert Scholes, Carlos A. Silva, Marc Simard, Andrew Skidmore, Krzysztof Sterenczak, Mihai Tanase, Chiara Torresan, Ruben Valbuena, Hans Verbeeck, Tomas Vrska, Konrad Wessels, Joanne C. White, Lee J. T. White, Eliakimu Zahabu, Carlo Zgraggen
Summary: This paper presents the development of models used by NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) to estimate forest aboveground biomass density (AGBD). The models were developed using globally distributed field and airborne lidar data, with simulated relative height metrics as predictor variables. The study found that stratification by geographic domain and the use of square root transformation improved model performance.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Isabelle S. Helfenstein, Fabian D. Schneider, Michael E. Schaepman, Felix Morsdorf
Summary: Observing functional diversity continuously in time and space using satellite imagery is crucial for studying the impact of environmental change on ecosystems and biodiversity. This study presents a method to map and quantify functional diversity of physiological forest traits in a temperate forest using high-resolution and resampled satellite data. The results show that functional diversity metrics depend on pixel size and quantity, and a minimum calculation area is recommended for mapping functional diversity using satellite data. The study also highlights the influence of illumination and topography on functional richness.
REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Heng Zhang, Elvira Machler, Felix Morsdorf, Michael E. Schaepman, Florian Altermatt, Pascal A. Niklaus
Summary: Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are connected through spatial flows, integrating biodiversity and suggesting a spatial association. By combining satellite remote sensing and environmental DNA extraction from river water, a study reveals a spatial land-water fingerprint. The riverine eDNA diversity is found to be associated with the spectral diversity of terrestrial ecosystems upstream, peaking at a distance of 400 m and detectable up to a radius of 2.0 km. These findings provide important spatially explicit information for understanding land-water linkages.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Hailan Jiang, Guangjian Yan, Yiyi Tong, Shiyu Cheng, Xuebo Yang, Ronghai Hu, Linyuan Li, Xihan Mu, Donghui Xie, Wuming Zhang, Guoqing Zhou, Felix Morsdorf
Summary: This study introduced a method to improve LAI retrieval by addressing occlusion in LiDAR measurements, resulting in lower errors compared to other methods and relative stability across various scenes.
IEEE JOURNAL OF SELECTED TOPICS IN APPLIED EARTH OBSERVATIONS AND REMOTE SENSING
(2021)