Tracking the long-term structure changes of a mature deciduous broadleaf forest stand using digital hemispherical photography

Lang, Mait; Pisek, Jan

doi:10.2478/fsmu-2019-0007

Abstract

Hemispherical photography provides permanent records of forest canopy structure. We analysed digital hemispherical images taken during the period of 2007–2018 in a mature silver birch stand located in Järvselja, Estonia. The stand was thinned in 2004. Understory trees were removed in the spring of 2018. Images were processed using the LinearRatio_SC method. Effective plant area index L^eff during the leafless phenophase increased as a result of tree growth from 0.92 to 1.24 and understory cutting was not detectable. During the full foliage condition L^eff increased from 3.6 in 2008 to 5.8 in 2017. After removal of understory trees from the stand L^eff decreased, and repeated measurements in the summer of 2018 estimated the plant area index range 4.5 < L^eff < 4.8. The results are in agreement with the expected changes following forest growth and demonstrate that LinearRatio_SC is a suitable method for the estimation and long-term monitoring of forest canopy properties from digital hemispherical images.

References

Anderson, M.C. 1964. Studies of the woodland light climate: I. The photographic computation of light condition. – Journal of Ecology, 52, 27–41.10.2307/2257780
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Arumäe, T., Lang, M. 2018. Estimation of canopy cover in dense mixed-species forests using airborne lidar data. – European Journal of Remote Sensing, 51(1), 132–141.10.1080/22797254.2017.1411169
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Cescatti A. 2007. Indirect estimates of canopy gap fraction based on the linear conversion of hemispherical photographs: Methodology and comparison with standard thresholding techniques. – Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 143(1–2), 1–12.10.1016/j.agrformet.2006.04.009
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Coffin, D. 2014. Decoding raw digital photos in Linux. [WWW Document]. – URL http://www.dechifro.org/dcraw/. [Accessed 11 November 2014].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Evans, G.C., Coombe, D.E. 1959. Hemispherical and woodland canopy photography and the light climate. – Journal of Ecology, 47, 103–113.10.2307/2257250
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Fernandes, R., Plummer, S., Nightingale, J., Baret, F., Camacho, F., Fang, H., Garrigues, S., Gobron, N., Lang, M., Lacaze, R., LeBlanc, S., Meroni, M., Martinez, B., Nilson, T., Pinty, B., Pisek, J., Sonnentag, O., Verger, A., Welles, J., Weiss, M., Widlowski, J.L. 2014. Global leaf area index product validation good practices. Version 2.0. – Schaepman-Strub, G., Román, M., Nickeson, J. (eds.). Best Practice for Satellite-Derived Land Product Validation (p. 76): Land Product Validation Subgroup (WGCV/CEOS). DOI:10.5067/doc/ceoswgcv/lpv/lai.002.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Härkönen, S., Neumann, M., Mues, V., Berninger, F., Bronisz, K., Cardellini, G., Chirici, G., Hasenauer, H., Koehl, M., Lang, M., Merganicova, K., Mohren, F., Moiseyev, A., Moreno, A., Mura, M., Muys, B., Olschofsky, K., Del Perugia, B., Rørstad, P.K., Solberg, B., Thivolle-Cazat, A., Trotsiuk, V., Mäkelä, A. 2019. A climate-sensitive forest model for assessing impacts of forest management in Europe. – Environmental Modelling & Software, 115, 128−143.10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.02.009
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kuusk, A. 1995. A fast, invertible canopy reflectance model. – Remote Sensing of Environment, 51, 342–350.10.1016/0034-4257(94)00059-V
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kuusk, A., Lang, M., Kuusk, J. 2013. Database of optical and structural data for the validation of forest radiative transfer models. – Kokhanovsky, A.A. (ed.). Light Scattering Reviews 7: Radiative Transfer and Optical Properties of Atmosphere and Underlying Surface. Berlin-Heidelberg, Springer, 109–148.10.1007/978-3-642-21907-8_4
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kuusk, A., Lang, M., Kuusk, J., Lükk, T., Nilson, T., Mõttus, M., Rautiainen, M., Eenmäe, A. 2008. Database of optical and structural data for the validation of radiative transfer models. – Technical Report, 59 pp. Available online. http://www.aai.ee/bgf/jarvselja_db/jarvselja_db.pdf.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Kuusk, A., Pisek, J., Lang, M., Märdla, S. 2018. Estimation of gap fraction and foliage clumping in forest canopies. – Remote Sensing, 10, 1153. DOI:10.3390/rs10071153.10.3390/rs10071153
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lallemand, F., Püttsepp, Ü., Lang, M., Luud, A., Courty., P.E., Palancade, C., Selosse, M.A. 2017. Mixotrophy in Pyroleae (Ericaceae) from Estonian boreal forests does not vary with light or tissue age. – Annals of Botany, 120 (3), 361−371. DOI:10.1093/aob/mcx054.10.1093/aob/mcx054559141428575199
Open DOI Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lang, M., Kodar, A., Arumäe, T. 2013. Restoration of above canopy reference hemispherical image from below canopy measurements for plant area index estimation in forests. – Forestry Studies | Metsanduslikud Uurimused, 59, 13–27.10.2478/fsmu-2013-0008
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lang, M., Kuusk, A., Mõttus, M., Rautiainen, M., Nilson, T. 2010. Canopy gap fraction estimation from digital hemispherical images using sky radiance models and a linear conversion method. – Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150(1), 20–29.10.1016/j.agrformet.2009.08.001
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lang, M., Nilson, T., Kuusk, A., Pisek, J., Korhonen, L., Uri, V. 2017. Digital photography for tracking the phenology of an evergreen conifer stand. – Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 246, 15–21.10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.05.021
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Lukasová, V., Lang, M., Škvarenina, J. 2014. Seasonal changes in NDVI in relation to phenological phases, LAI and PAI of beech forests. – Baltic Forestry, 20, 248−262.
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Nilson, T. 1971. A theoretical analysis of the frequency gaps in plant stands. – Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 8, 25–28.10.1016/0002-1571(71)90092-6
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
R Core Team. 2016. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. [WWW Document]. – URL https://www.R-project.org/. [Accessed 23 June 2016].
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Watson, D.J. 1947. Comparative physiological studies on the growth of field crops: I. Variation in net assimilation rate and leaf area between species and varieties, and within and between years. – Annals of Botany, 11, 41–76.10.1093/oxfordjournals.aob.a083148
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Welles, J.M., Norman, J.M. 1991. Instrument for indirect measurement of canopy architecture. – Agronomy Journal, 83, 818–825.10.2134/agronj1991.00021962008300050009x
Search in Google Scholar Back to article
Widlowski, J.L., Mio, C., Disney, M., Adams, J., Andredakis, I., Atzberger, C., Brennan, J., Busetto, L., Chelle, M., Ceccherini, G., Colombo, R., Côté, J.-F., Eenmäe, A., Essery, R., Gastellu-Etchegorry, J.-P., Gobron, N., Grau, E., Haverd, V., Homolová, L., Huang, H., Hunt, L., Kobayashi, H., Koetz, B., Kuusk, A., Kuusk, J., Lang, M., Lewis, P.E., Lovell, J.L., Malenovský, Z., Meroni, M., Morsdorf, F., Mõttus, M., Ni-Meister, W., Pinty, B., Rautiainen, M., Schlerf, M., Somers, B., Stuckens, J., Verstraete, M.M., Yang, W., Zhao, F., Zenone, T. 2015. The fourth phase of the radiative transfer model intercomparison (RAMI) exercise: Actual canopy scenarios and conformity testing. – Remote Sensing of Environment, 169, 418–437.10.1016/j.rse.2015.08.016
Search in Google Scholar Back to article

Tracking the long-term structure changes of a mature deciduous broadleaf forest stand using digital hemispherical photography

Abstract

Paradigm

My account