Canopy height is a key variable in tropical forest functioning and for regional carbon inventories. We investigate the spatial structure of the canopy height of a tropical forest, its relationship with environmental physical covariates, and the implication for tropical forest height variation mapping. Making use of high-resolution maps of LiDAR-derived Digital Canopy Model (DCM) and environment...

AB%rKA(:f.-Canopy gaps in southern Appalachian mixed-oak forests were assessed foxthe effects of topographic, gap and stand variables on density of wood seedlings. Seedling density was significantly correlated with percent slope and positively with gap age (l-5 yr). Density varied substantially among topographic positions and increased with gap size. Specirs richness decreased ovt’itime and inc...

This study proposed a novel methodology to classify the shape of gaps using landscape indices and multivariate statistics. Patch-level indices were used to collect the qualified shape and spatial configuration characteristics for canopy gaps in the Lienhuachih Experimental Forest in Taiwan in 1998 and 2002. Non-hierarchical cluster analysis was used to assess the optimal number of gap clusters ...

Canopy gaps play an essential role in continuous cover forests, as they have a strong effect on regeneration dynamics and species composition. However, canopy gaps have been widely neglected in current monitoring and planning practices, which might be caused by the fact that mapping of canopy gaps from the ground is labour-intensive, tedious, and error prone. An approach to automated canopy gap...

Forest edge-generated gradients in understory light are known to influence the survival of tree seedlings in North American deciduous forests, but the seasonality of that influence has not been investigated for the forests of southern New England. We examined the winter versus summer difference in photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) transmitted through a southern New England forest canopy...

Regulating the shade provided by overstory trees is important in the management of shaded-perennial agroforestry systems. In order to compare the merits of commonly used light-assessment techniques that could potentially be useful to farmers and extensionists and to quantify the extent of shading in multistrata agroforestry systems, understory photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) was measu...