Abstract
Global biodiversity is threatened by unprecedented and increasing anthropogenic pressures, including habitat loss and fragmentation. LiDAR can become a decisive technology by providing accurate information about the linkages between biodiversity and ecosystem structure. Here, we review the current use of LiDAR metrics in ecological studies regarding birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, bryophytes, lichens, and fungi (BLF). We quantify the types of research (ecosystem and LiDAR sources) and describe the LiDAR platforms and data that are currently available. We also categorize and harmonize LiDAR metrics into five LiDAR morphological traits (canopy cover, height and vertical distribution, understory and shrubland, and topographic traits) and quantify their current use and effectiveness across taxonomic groups and ecosystems. The literature review returned 173 papers that met our criteria. Europe and North America held most of the studies, and birds were the most studied group, whereas temperate forest was by far the most represented ecosystem. Globally, canopy height was the most used LiDAR trait, especially in forest ecosystems, whereas canopy cover and terrain topography traits performed better in those ecosystems where they were mapped. Understory structure and shrubland traits together with terrain topography showed high effectiveness for less studied groups such as BLF and invertebrates and in open landscapes. Our results show how LiDAR technology has greatly contributed to habitat mapping, including organisms poorly studied until recently, such as BLF. Finally, we discuss the forthcoming opportunities for biodiversity mapping with different LiDAR platforms in combination with spectral information. We advocate (i) for the integration of spaceborne LiDAR data with the already available airborne (airplane, drones) and terrestrial technology, and (ii) the coupling of it with multispectral/hyperspectral information, which will allow for the exploration and analyses of new species and ecosystems.
Highlights
There was still a remarkable difference in the number of articles published in the Northern Hemisphere, in Europe and North America; no studies were consistently conducted outside these two continents until 2015
We propose to simplify and harmonize LiDAR metrics to more meaningful morphological traits as follows, in line with [105]: canopy height, canopy cover, canopy vertical distribution, including understory and shrubland, and terrain topography traits
Our results show how LiDAR has become a crucial technology in providing spatially explicit information regarding the ecosystem structure in relation to biodiversity, and especially important in face of the pressures caused by anthropogenic activities on species and ecosystems
Summary
Global biodiversity is threatened by unprecedented and increasing anthropogenic pressures, including habitat loss and fragmentation, so that biodiversity assessment and monitoring is imperative [1,2]. Given that ecosystem structure is increasingly seen as a determinant of habitat quality as well as an indicator of biodiversity itself at local and regional scales [3,4,5], the ability to deepen our knowledge on species–habitat relationships is of vital importance [6]. The most direct and accurate way of obtaining detailed ecosystem three-dimensional (3D) structure at the resolution and accuracy required is through LiDAR [7,8].
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