Applications of airborne lidar for the assessment of animal species diversity

Abstract

Summary1. Habitat structure is important in explaining species diversity patterns for many animal groups. If we could map habitat structure over large spatial scales, we could use habitat structure-species diversity (HS-SD) relationships to model species diversity and inform conservation planning and management. Traditional approaches for measuring habitat structure cannot be applied over entire landscapes, but remote sensing tools are now able to overcome this limitation. Here, we explore the potential of airborne lidar for the assessment and monitoring of animal species diversity in terrestrial environments. 2. We review the habitat attributes commonly recorded in the study of HS-SD relationships and the spatial scale of their measurement, in papers published between 1960 and 2013. We also gather evidence for the use of lidar to make relevant measurements at similar scales. 3. Eight out of 15 attributes of habitat structure commonly used in published studies relate to the vertical dimension of habitat. The core strength of lidar is that it is a vertical profiler, and this technology can be used to derive estimates of all but one of these structural attributes. Lidar can also be used to improve the measurement of the four commonly used attributes focusing on the horizontal heterogeneity of habitat patches. The spatial grain and extent of HS-SD studies is usually within the operational capability of airborne lidar; when a vertical measure of habitat structure has been employed, this is true in 84% of published studies. The potential efficacy of lidar in this field of biodiversity studies is underlined by several published examples of lidar modelling of animal species diversity. 4. We conclude that lidar remote sensing is fit for the purpose of biodiversity assessment and monitoring through its ability to characterize habitat structure, a key driver of animal species diversity, over large spatial scales. We advocate wider application of lidar-based HS-SD indicators to help tackle the current biodiversity crisis. In combination with other remote sensing products, these indicators may support the implementation and monitoring of environmental legislation, inform gap analyses and the planning of management actions for protected areas and species, and drive greater synergy with forest-based climate change mitigation.

Biodiversity Mapping via Natura 2000 Conservation Status and Ebv Assessment Using Airborne Laser Scanning in Alkali Grasslands

“…At regional scale and national to continental coverage, not only satellite-based sensor products may be considered but also airborne sensors. Airborne LIDAR has been identified to hold especially high potential for biodiversity monitoring (Simonson et al, 2014;Zlinszky et al, 2015b) due to its ability to capture three-dimensional spatial structure in high resolution together with radiometric properties in a spectral band relevant for ecophysiology. Studies have proven that LIDAR can be used even on its own for detailed phytosociological classification or vegetation health studies, both in forests (Maltamo et al, 2014) and in herbaceous vegetation (Zlinszky et al, , 2012.…”

Can Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) and Forest Estimates Derived from Satellite Images Be Used to Predict Abundance and Species Richness of Birds and Beetles in Boreal Forest?

“…The texture derived from satellite images has also been shown to provide useful information for habitat analysis [43][44][45]. As for ALS data, they have proven especially useful for providing information about fine-scale habitat heterogeneity and structure, a fundamental correlate of species diversity (e.g., [46,47]). The habitat analysis can be done by deriving information about known habitat requirements or by relating metrics from the ALS data to field observations of species distribution [48].…”

Comparison of Airborne LiDAR and Satellite Hyperspectral Remote Sensing to Estimate Vascular Plant Richness in Deciduous Mediterranean Forests of Central Chile

“…In this sense, the structural heterogeneity could be one of the main drivers of variation in species richness due to the patterns formed in the gap-to-understory environments [18]. This kind of variable has also been used as an indicator of the vertical structure of vegetation for biodiversity studies related to other taxonomic groups such as mammals, reptiles, and insects [55].…”

“…Lastly, it is also notable that resampling the predictor variables at differing spatial resolutions that more adequately reflect the field situation improved the prediction. The selection and concern of the spatial resolution have relevant implications in ecological studies [49] and within the taxonomical groups considered [55]. The consideration of different grain size of the selected predictors has been used mainly in studies on regional and continental scales [56,[64][65][66].…”