Over the last two decades, terrestrial light detection and ranging (LiDAR), also known as terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has become a valuable tool in assessing the woody structure of trees, in a method that is accurate, non-destructive, and replicable. This technique provides the ability to scan an area, and utilizes specialized software to create highly detailed 3D point cloud representations of its surroundings. Although the original usage of LiDAR was for precision survey applications, researchers have begun to apply LiDAR to forest research. Tree metrics can be extracted from TLS tree point clouds, and in combination with structure modelling, can be used to extract tree volume, aboveground biomass (AGB), growth, species, and to understand ecological questions such as tree mechanics, branching architecture, and surface area. TLS can provide a robust and rapid assessment of tree characteristics. These characteristics will improve current global efforts to measure forest carbon emissions, understand their uncertainties, and provide new insight into tropical forest ecology. Thus, the main objective of this PhD is to explore the use of 3D models from terrestrial laser scanning point clouds to estimate biomass and architecture of tropical trees. TLS-derived biomass and TLS-derived architecture can potentially be used to generate significant quality data for a better understanding of ecological challenges in tropical forests.

Authors: Lau, A.

Subjects: biomass, tropical trees, lidar

Publication type: Dissertation, Publication

Year: 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18174/455128