Eyes above the trees

A team of researchers at Kyoto University took advantage of LiDAR to conduct a large-scale forest survey of Japan. They measured the crown structure of 4,326 canopy trees representing 149 tree species across 23 forest census plots throughout the country: from sub-boreal forests in Hokkaido to subtropical ones in Okinawa. The team then integrated the drone-derived data with detailed ground-based measurements and developed species-specific equations to estimate tree biomass based on crown structural traits.

This approach enables more accurate biomass estimation in species-rich natural forests by providing a repeatable, scalable, and data-driven tool for long-term forest monitoring and evaluation, and even has the potential to improve carbon credit accuracy and biodiversity monitoring.

 

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