Estimating fine-scale visibility in a temperate forest landscape using airborne laser scanning

Abstract: Visibility is a key factor influencing animal behavior in forest ecosystems. Fine-scale visibility in forested areas has been measured by ground-based approaches at the plot level, using site-specific methods that have limited spatial coverage. Here we examine airborne laser scanning (ALS) as a novel tool to quantify fine-scale visibility in the temperate forests of Germany at a landscape scale. We validate the (vertically-derived) ALS-derived visibility measures using proven (horizontally-derived) terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) estimates of true visibility. Our results indicate that there is a good agreement between the visibility resulting from ALS and TLS with an R2 ranging from 0.53 to 0.84 and a normalized RMSE varying from 15.92% to 11.81% at various plot sizes, with the highest accuracy achieved using a plot size of 35 × 35 m. Our study demonstrates for the first time that ALS can be successfully applied to quantify fine-scale visibility in temperate forests at a landscape level. This approach holds potential for studying the spatial behavior of animals (e.g., habitat selection and predator–prey relationships) in forest ecosystems

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: International journal of applied earth observation and geoinformation. - 103 (2021) , 102478, ISSN: 0303-2434

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Freiburg
• (who): Universität
• (when): 2021
• Creator: Zong, Xin ; Wang, Tiejun ; Skidmore, Andrew K. ; Heurich, Marco

Further information

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jag.2021.102478
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2230762
• Rights: Kein Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:44 PM CET