Abstract
Mangroves provide a variety of ecosystem services, which can be related to their structuralcomplexity and ability to store carbon in the above ground biomass (AGB). Quantifying AGB inmangroves has traditionally been conducted using destructive, time-consuming, and costlymethods, however, Structure-from-Motion Multi-View Stereo (SfM-MVS) combined withunmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery may provide an alternative. Here, we compared the abilityof SfM-MVS with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to capture forest structure and volume in threemangrove sites of differing stand age and species composition. We describe forest structure in termsof point density, while forest volume is estimated as a proxy for AGB using the surface differencingmethod. In general, SfM-MVS poorly captured mangrove forest structure, but was efficient incapturing the canopy height for volume estimations. The differences in volume estimations betweenTLS and SfM-MVS were higher in the juvenile age site (42.95%) than the mixed (28.23%) or mature(12.72%) age sites, with a higher stem density affecting point capture in both methods. These resultscan be used to inform non-destructive, cost-effective, and timely assessments of forest structure orAGB in mangroves in the future.
Highlights
Mangrove forests are a woody vegetation that grow predominantly in tropical regions in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide [1]
This study compared the ability of Structure-from-Motion Multi-View Stereo (SfM-MVS) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to capture forest structure and volume in three mangrove sites of differing structural characteristics
For forest structure, SfM-MVS was unable to capture points below the canopy in the same detail offered by TLS, which was clearly superior in terms of point density
Summary
Mangrove forests are a woody vegetation that grow predominantly in tropical regions in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide [1]. The ability of mangroves to sequester carbon is impressive, with estimates of 1023 Mg carbon stored per hectare [5], which is more efficient per unit area than any other tropical forest type [6]. Mangroves are being lost at an alarming rate due to land use change, deforestation, and the impacts of climate change [7,8,9], thereby converting potential carbon sinks into sources [10]. Quantifying carbon storage is essential to retain the ecological and economical integrity of these ecosystems [8,11,12], by highlighting their potential to mitigate climate change and ensuring their future conservation [13]. The estimation of above-ground biomass (AGB) is an important indicator for carbon storage, as it represents a lower bound for the total biomass within an ecosystem [14]. Mangroves can vary considerably in AGB, from 500 Mg/ha in riverine areas to
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