Field studies in Amazonia have found a relationship at continental scales between soil fertility and broad trends in forest structure and function. Little is known at regional scales, however, about how discrete patterns in forest structure or functional attributes map onto underlying edaphic or geological patterns. We collected airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data and VSWIR (Visib...

A method of predicting two forest stand structure attrithe ability of the regression equations to predict the stem butes, basal area and aboveground biomass, from meamap plot’s stand structure attributes was then evaluated. surements of forest vertical structure was developed and The QMCH was found to explain the most variance in tested using field and remotely sensed canopy structure the chron...

This work develops methods to account for shoot structure in models of coniferous canopy radiative transfer. Shoot structure, as it varies along the light gradient inside canopy, affects the efficiency of light interception per unit needle area, foliage biomass, or foliage nitrogen. The clumping of needles in the shoot volume also causes a notable amount of multiple scattering of light within c...

Article history: Received 23 July 2015 Received in revised form 15 April 2016 Accepted 28 April 2016 Available online xxxx There is awell-established needwithin the remote sensing community for improved estimation and understanding of canopy structure and its influence on the retrieval of leaf biochemical properties. The main goal of this research was to assess the potential of optical spectral...

A detailed 3D structural model of a conifer forest canopy was developed in order to simulate the reflectance (optical) and backscatter (microwave) signals measured remotely. We show it is feasible to model forest canopy scattering using detailed 3D models of tree structure including the location and orientation of individual needles. An existing structural growth model of Scots pine (Pinus sylv...

To understand the social, political, economic, and ecological implications of historic land use patterns of Caracol, one of the largest (~200 sq km) Maya archaeological sites, we are conducting a regional survey using satellite and airborne sensors. About one-fifth of this polity has been mapped with traditional ground-based methods. In this NASA-funded project, we acquired Landsat TM/ETM, IKON...

Canopy structure has an important role to play in determining the searching patterns of predators of insect pests in crops. The connections between plants within the canopy are crucial in determining the ability of predators to move around the canopy. Virtual plant models provide an ideal method for providing a realistic background for modelling the movement of insects in plant canopies. Experi...

Both Imaging Spectrometry and LIDAR have been already investigated as independent data sources to describe and quantify forests properties. While Imaging Spectrometry provides information on the biochemical and biophysical properties of the canopy, LIDAR resolves the spatial and vertical distribution of the canopy structure (1, 2). The presented contribution outlines a concept how these two com...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Globally, conifer dominance is restricted to nutient-poor habitats in colder, drier or waterlogged environments, probably due to competition with angiosperms. Analysis of canopy structure is important for understanding the mechanism of plant coexistence in relation to competition for light. Most conifers are shade intolerant, and often have narrow, deep, conical crowns. In t...

Plant canopy structure can strongly affect crop functions such as yield and stress tolerance, and canopy size is an important aspect of canopy structure. Manual assessment of canopy size is laborious and imprecise, and cannot measure multi-dimensional traits such as projected leaf area and canopy volume. Field-based high throughput phenotyping systems with imaging capabilities can rapidly acqui...