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Assessing Understory Complexity in Beech-dominated Forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe—From Managed to Primary Forests

Understory vegetation influences several ecosystem services and functions of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests. Despite this knowledge on the importance of understory vegetation, it is still difficult to measure its three-dimensional characteristics in a quantitative manner. With the recen...

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Autores principales: Willim, Katharina, Stiers, Melissa, Annighöfer, Peter, Ammer, Christian, Ehbrecht, Martin, Kabal, Myroslav, Stillhard, Jonas, Seidel, Dominik
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6480241/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30970553
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19071684
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author Willim, Katharina
Stiers, Melissa
Annighöfer, Peter
Ammer, Christian
Ehbrecht, Martin
Kabal, Myroslav
Stillhard, Jonas
Seidel, Dominik
author_facet Willim, Katharina
Stiers, Melissa
Annighöfer, Peter
Ammer, Christian
Ehbrecht, Martin
Kabal, Myroslav
Stillhard, Jonas
Seidel, Dominik
author_sort Willim, Katharina
collection PubMed
description Understory vegetation influences several ecosystem services and functions of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests. Despite this knowledge on the importance of understory vegetation, it is still difficult to measure its three-dimensional characteristics in a quantitative manner. With the recent advancements in terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), we now have the means to analyze detailed spatial patterns of forests. Here, we present a new measure to quantify understory complexity. We tested the approach for different management types, ranging from traditionally and alternatively managed forests and national parks in Germany to primary forests of Eastern Europe and the Ukraine, as well as on an inventory site with more detailed understory reference data. The understory complexity index (UCI) was derived from point clouds from single scans and tested for its relationship with forest management and conventional inventory data. Our results show that advanced tree regeneration is a strong driver of the UCI. Furthermore, the newly developed index successfully measured understory complexity of differently managed beech stands and was able to distinguish scanning positions located on and away from skid-trails in managed stands. The approach enables a deeper understanding of the complexity of understory structures of forests and their drivers and dependents.
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spelling pubmed-64802412019-04-29 Assessing Understory Complexity in Beech-dominated Forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe—From Managed to Primary Forests Willim, Katharina Stiers, Melissa Annighöfer, Peter Ammer, Christian Ehbrecht, Martin Kabal, Myroslav Stillhard, Jonas Seidel, Dominik Sensors (Basel) Article Understory vegetation influences several ecosystem services and functions of European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) forests. Despite this knowledge on the importance of understory vegetation, it is still difficult to measure its three-dimensional characteristics in a quantitative manner. With the recent advancements in terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), we now have the means to analyze detailed spatial patterns of forests. Here, we present a new measure to quantify understory complexity. We tested the approach for different management types, ranging from traditionally and alternatively managed forests and national parks in Germany to primary forests of Eastern Europe and the Ukraine, as well as on an inventory site with more detailed understory reference data. The understory complexity index (UCI) was derived from point clouds from single scans and tested for its relationship with forest management and conventional inventory data. Our results show that advanced tree regeneration is a strong driver of the UCI. Furthermore, the newly developed index successfully measured understory complexity of differently managed beech stands and was able to distinguish scanning positions located on and away from skid-trails in managed stands. The approach enables a deeper understanding of the complexity of understory structures of forests and their drivers and dependents. MDPI 2019-04-09 /pmc/articles/PMC6480241/ /pubmed/30970553 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19071684 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Willim, Katharina
Stiers, Melissa
Annighöfer, Peter
Ammer, Christian
Ehbrecht, Martin
Kabal, Myroslav
Stillhard, Jonas
Seidel, Dominik
Assessing Understory Complexity in Beech-dominated Forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe—From Managed to Primary Forests
title Assessing Understory Complexity in Beech-dominated Forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe—From Managed to Primary Forests
title_full Assessing Understory Complexity in Beech-dominated Forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe—From Managed to Primary Forests
title_fullStr Assessing Understory Complexity in Beech-dominated Forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe—From Managed to Primary Forests
title_full_unstemmed Assessing Understory Complexity in Beech-dominated Forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe—From Managed to Primary Forests
title_short Assessing Understory Complexity in Beech-dominated Forests (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Central Europe—From Managed to Primary Forests
title_sort assessing understory complexity in beech-dominated forests (fagus sylvatica l.) in central europe—from managed to primary forests
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6480241/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30970553
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s19071684
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