TY - JOUR

T1 - Assessing tree dendrometrics in young regenerating plantations using terrestrial laser scanning

AU - Li, Ying

AU - Hess, Carsten

AU - von Wehrden, Henrik

AU - Härdtle, Werner

AU - Oheimb, Goddert

N1 - Funding Information: This research was carried out as part of the BEF-China project financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG FOR 891/2). We are grateful to all members of BEF-China for their support and to Lars Goldbach for his valuable assistance in the scanning campaign. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for comments that considerably improved the earlier version of the manuscript.

PY - 2014/6

Y1 - 2014/6

N2 - Context: Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) provides a valuable tool for the retrieval of detailed individual-tree structural parameters, but has never previously been applied to young stands under field conditions.Aims: The aim was to explore the performance of TLS in a young tree plantation located in a heterogeneous environment in subtropical China.Methods: We investigated 438 young trees for congruence between direct field and TLS measurements of total tree height, stem diameter at ground height, and length and height of the longest branch using correlation tests. We appliedgeneralized linear models to examine whether congruence was affected by the observed structural parameter or extrinsic factors (e.g., potential occlusion, point cloud quality).Results: TLS made it possible to detect trees higher than 40 cm. The TLS-retrieved data were highly congruent with the data obtained from direct measurements. The poor descriptions of stems and branches of some individuals of small-sized and leaf-on tree species were due to occlusion by ground vegetation and leaf-on branches. Observed structural parameter and extrinsic factors did not explain the variance between the two approaches.Conclusion: TLS proved to be a promising tool for highresolution, non-destructive analyses of tree dendrometrics in young regenerating plantations.

AB - Context: Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) provides a valuable tool for the retrieval of detailed individual-tree structural parameters, but has never previously been applied to young stands under field conditions.Aims: The aim was to explore the performance of TLS in a young tree plantation located in a heterogeneous environment in subtropical China.Methods: We investigated 438 young trees for congruence between direct field and TLS measurements of total tree height, stem diameter at ground height, and length and height of the longest branch using correlation tests. We appliedgeneralized linear models to examine whether congruence was affected by the observed structural parameter or extrinsic factors (e.g., potential occlusion, point cloud quality).Results: TLS made it possible to detect trees higher than 40 cm. The TLS-retrieved data were highly congruent with the data obtained from direct measurements. The poor descriptions of stems and branches of some individuals of small-sized and leaf-on tree species were due to occlusion by ground vegetation and leaf-on branches. Observed structural parameter and extrinsic factors did not explain the variance between the two approaches.Conclusion: TLS proved to be a promising tool for highresolution, non-destructive analyses of tree dendrometrics in young regenerating plantations.

KW - Ecosystems Research

KW - BEF-China

KW - Point cloud

KW - Regeneration phase

KW - Subtropical China

KW - TLS

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84900396834&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/0e9cbb36-f268-3eb8-b37c-a73bf32b665a/

UR - https://hal.science/hal-01102217

U2 - 10.1007/s13595-014-0358-4

DO - 10.1007/s13595-014-0358-4

M3 - Journal articles

VL - 71

SP - 453

EP - 462

JO - Annals of Forest Science

JF - Annals of Forest Science

SN - 1286-4560

IS - 4

ER -