Abstract
Key message A method using terrestrial laser scanning and 3D quantitative structure models opens up new possibilities to reconstruct tree architecture from tropical rainforest trees.Tree architecture is the three-dimensional arrangement of above ground parts of a tree. Ecologists hypothesize that the topology of tree branches represents optimized adaptations to tree’s environment. Thus, an accurate description of tree architecture leads to a better understanding of how form is driven by function. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has demonstrated its potential to characterize woody tree structure. However, most current TLS methods do not describe tree architecture. Here, we examined nine trees from a Guyanese tropical rainforest to evaluate the utility of TLS for measuring tree architecture. First, we scanned the trees and extracted individual tree point clouds. TreeQSM was used to reconstruct woody structure through 3D quantitative structure models (QSMs). From these QSMs, we calculated: (1) length and diameter of branches > 10 cm diameter, (2) branching order and (3) tree volume. To validate our method, we destructively harvested the trees and manually measured all branches over 10 cm (279). TreeQSM found and reconstructed 95% of the branches thicker than 30 cm. Comparing field and QSM data, QSM overestimated branch lengths thicker than 50 cm by 1% and underestimated diameter of branches between 20 and 60 cm by 8%. TreeQSM assigned the correct branching order in 99% of all cases and reconstructed 87% of branch lengths and 97% of tree volume. Although these results are based on nine trees, they validate a method that is an important step forward towards using tree architectural traits based on TLS and open up new possibilities to use QSMs for tree architecture.
Highlights
Tree architecture can be defined as the three-dimensional arrangement of the organs of a tree
Studies have quantitatively described tree architectural traits, but are limited due to the intensity of manual labour needed to sample large numbers of trees with enough detail (Bentley et al 2013; Dassot et al 2010). In light of these limitations, here we propose another way forward to characterize tree architecture: terrestrial LiDAR (Dassot et al 2012) combined with a 3D quantitative structure model (TreeQSM) (Raumonen et al 2013)
TreeQSM only slightly overestimated below 1% the length of branches thicker than 40 cm compared to the manual measurements
Summary
Tree architecture can be defined as the three-dimensional arrangement of the organs of a tree This arrangement includes the size and spatial arrangement of branches, leaves and flowers (Reinhardt and Kuhlemeier 2002) and can be defined by specific morphological traits (Rosati et al 2013). Tree architecture is a consequence of genetics and chance. Within the context of the WBE theory, tree architectural traits can be used to understand and explore specific links among, for example, tree height, biomass, diameter, growth and mortality (Bentley et al 2013; Kempes et al 2011; West 1999b; West et al 2009). An accurate description of the architecture of trees can play a key role in understanding tree-level and plot-level processes (Kempes et al 2011; Rosati et al 2013)
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