Quantifying changes in forest structural complexity using bi-temporal airborne laser scanning

Abstract

Structural complexity is an important forest characteristic for habitat assessment, forest management and planning. However, monitoring how forest structural complexity evolves over time in various forest types has not been widely explored. In this study we investigate the feasibility of bi-temporal low-density airborne laser scanning (ALS) for the assessment of changes in light availability conditions within forest canopy, considered to imply changes in forest structural complexity. We used ALS data acquired in 2012 and 2019 to generate canopy vertical profiles by slicing the point clouds into 4 × 4 ×1 m voxels which were then rasterized and reclassified into four light availability categories. To understand structural development over time in different forest types we used field-measured tree heights and tree species information to stratify sample plots in different stand complexity categories. Stands with higher structural complexity represented increased proportions of space occupied by vegetation as well as decreased proportions of empty space below the canopy. The experiments showed the ability of low-density ALS to characterize the dynamics in canopy layering structure, implying changes in forest structural complexity. The presented methodology could potentially be upscaled and applied in the landscape-level monitoring of the development of boreal forest structural characteristics.