This paper evaluates the potential of a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) to characterize forest canopy fuel characteristics at plot level. Several canopy properties, namely canopy height, canopy cover, canopy base height and fuel strata gapwere estimated. Different approaches were tested to avoid the effect of canopy shadowing on canopy height estimation caused by deployment of the TLS below the...

We tested the hypothesis of a negative relationship between vegetation characteristics and ant species richness in a Brazilian open vegetation habitat, called candeial. We set up arboreal pitfalls to sample arboreal ants and measured the following environmental variables, which were used as surrogate of environmental heterogeneity: tree richness, tree density, tree height, circumference at the ...

Woodlands constitute the subsistence base of the majority of people in the Sudano-Sahelian zone (SSZ). Trees and grasses provide key ecosystem goods and services, including soil protection, fuelwood, food products and fodder. However, climate change in combination with rapidly increasing populations and altered land use practices put increasing pressure on the vegetation cover in this region. L...

Elevation gradients provide opportunities to explore environmental controls on forest structure and functioning. We used airborne imaging spectroscopy and lidar (light detection and ranging) to quantify changes in threedimensional forest structure and canopy functional traits in twenty 25 ha landscapes distributed along a 3300 m elevation gradient from lowland Amazonia to treeline in the Peruvi...

Growth and productivity of plants are mainly affected by various environmentalfactors in different ecosystems and natural habitat in the world. This research aims to studythe existing relationships between the phytosociology characteristics of Thymuskotschyanus and environmental factors in order to find the most important factorsgoverning development of the species in middle Taleghan rangelands...

Stem density, basal area, vegetation cover and vegetation surface area were compared as measures of the proportions of plant species present in North Okarito Forest, South Westland, for use in determining bird preferences for plant species. In general, stem density estimates of the proportions of canopy species were about 10 times lower than basal area estimates. The converse was true for estim...