Terrestrial laser scanning in forest ecology: Expanding the horizon

Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) was introduced for basic forest measurements, such as tree height and diameter, in the early 2000s. Recent advances in sensor and algorithm development have allowed us to assess in situ 3D forest structure explicitly and revolutionised the way we monitor and quantify ecosystem structure and function. Here, we provide an interdisciplinary focus to explore current developments in TLS to measure and monitor forest structure. We argue that TLS data will play a critical role in understanding fundamental ecological questions about tree size and shape, allometric scaling, metabolic function and plasticity of form. Furthermore, these new developments enable new applications such as…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: 1455636
• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Awards: NE/N00373X/1, NE/P011780/1, NE/R016518/1, nceo020002
• EC
  European Commission

  Award: 835398
• AN
  Agence Nationale de la Recherche

  Awards: ANR-10-LABX-0041, 10-LABX-25-01, ANR-10-LABX-25-01, ANR-10
• AO
  Academy of Finland

  Award: 315079
• BF
  Belgian Federal Science Policy Office

  Award: SR/02/355
• UG
  Universiteit Gent
• H2
  Horizon 2020 Framework Programme
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Awards: nceo020002, NE/P011780/1, NE/N00373X/1, NE/R016518/1