Evaluating the potential of full-waveform lidar for mapping pan-tropical tree species richness

Suzanne M. Marselis; Katharine Abernethy; Alfonso Alonso; John Armston; Timothy R. Baker; Jean Francois Bastin; Jan Bogaert; Doreen S. Boyd; Pascal Boeckx; David F.R.P. Burslem; Robin Chazdon; David B. Clark; David Coomes; Laura Duncanson; Steven Hancock; Ross Hill; Chris Hopkinson; Elizabeth Kearsley; James R. Kellner; David Kenfack; Nicolas Labrière; Simon L. Lewis; David Minor; Hervé Memiaghe; Abel Monteagudo; Reuben Nilus; Michael O'Brien; Oliver L. Phillips; John Poulsen; Hao Tang; Hans Verbeeck; Ralph Dubayah

doi:10.1111/geb.13158

Evaluating the potential of full-waveform lidar for mapping pan-tropical tree species richness

Suzanne M. Marselis^*, Katharine Abernethy, Alfonso Alonso, John Armston, Timothy R. Baker, Jean Francois Bastin, Jan Bogaert, Doreen S. Boyd, Pascal Boeckx, David F.R.P. Burslem, Robin Chazdon, David B. Clark, David Coomes, Laura Duncanson, Steven Hancock, Ross Hill, Chris Hopkinson, Elizabeth Kearsley, James R. Kellner, David KenfackNicolas Labrière, Simon L. Lewis, David Minor, Hervé Memiaghe, Abel Monteagudo, Reuben Nilus, Michael O'Brien, Oliver L. Phillips, John Poulsen, Hao Tang, Hans Verbeeck, Ralph Dubayah

^*Corresponding author for this work

Aberdeen Centre For Environmental Sustainability

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aim: Mapping tree species richness across the tropics is of great interest for effective conservation and biodiversity management. In this study, we evaluated the potential of full-waveform lidar data for mapping tree species richness across the tropics by relating measurements of vertical canopy structure, as a proxy for the occupation of vertical niche space, to tree species richness. Location: Tropics. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Trees. Methods: First, we evaluated the characteristics of vertical canopy structure across 15 study sites using (simulated) large-footprint full-waveform lidar data (22 m diameter) and related these findings to in-situ tree species information. Then, we developed structure–richness models at the local (within 25–50 ha plots), regional (biogeographical regions) and pan-tropical scale at three spatial resolutions (1.0, 0.25 and 0.0625 ha) using Poisson regression. Results: The results showed a weak structure–richness relationship at the local scale. At the regional scale (within a biogeographical region) a stronger relationship between canopy structure and tree species richness across different tropical forest types was found, for example across Central Africa and in South America [R² ranging from.44–.56, root mean squared difference as a percentage of the mean (RMSD%) ranging between 23–61%]. Modelling the relationship pan-tropically, across four continents, 39% of the variation in tree species richness could be explained with canopy structure alone (R² =.39 and RMSD% = 43%, 0.25-ha resolution). Main conclusions: Our results may serve as a basis for the future development of a set of structure–richness models to map high resolution tree species richness using vertical canopy structure information from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI). The value of this effort would be enhanced by access to a larger set of field reference data for all tropical regions. Future research could also support the use of GEDI data in frameworks using environmental and spectral information for modelling tree species richness across the tropics.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1799-1816
Number of pages	18
Journal	Global Ecology and Biogeography
Volume	29
Issue number	10
Early online date	27 Jul 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13158
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work is supported by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship 414 Program – Grant 80NSSC17K0321; NASA contract #NNL 15AA03C to the University of Maryland for the development and execution of the GEDI mission (Principal Investigator, R. Dubayah); and the NASA New Investigator grant 80NSSC18K0708. We express our sincere gratitude to the following people and institutions for collecting field and lidar data and permitting us to use their data in this research: NASA’s LVIS team, specifically Bryan Blair, Michelle Hofton and David Rabine for collecting airborne lidar data in lsv, cha, lop, mon, mab and rab, Gabon; Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN) and Agence Gabonaise d'Etudes et d'Observation for logistical support that facilitated both fieldwork and lidar data collection in Gabon, specifically Kathryn Jeffery, Lee White, Flore Koumba Pambo, Josue Edzang Ndong and David Lehmann from ANPN; European Space Agency for funding field data collection in lop through the AfriSAR campaign, ANPN and the University of Stirling at the Station d'Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzes field station for hosting, and specifically Carl Ditougou, Pacôme Dimbonda, Arthur Dibambou, Edmond Dimoto, and Napo Milamizokou; NASA for funding field data collection in mon through the AfriSAR campaign and ANPN for hosting it; Nicolas Barbier, Missouri Botanical Garden (Tariq Stevart), Golder Associates, P. Ploton, V. Droissart and Y. Issembe, for field data collection in mab. Shell Gabon and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for funding, and Pulcherie Bissiengou for guiding, field data collection in rab. This is contribution no. 196 of the Gabon Biodiversity Program. We thank Deborah Clark for her efforts in collecting field data in lsv. s11 and s12 field and lidar data sets were acquired by the Sustainable Landscapes Brazil project supported by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the US Forest Service, and United States Agency for International Development, and the US Department of State. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Smithsonian the Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) Global Earth Observatory Network for funding and publishing field data collection in bci and J. W. Dalling for providing the lidar data in bci, which were funded through National Science Foundation (NSF) grant 0939907. The dan plot is a core project of the Southeast Asia Rain Forest Research Partnership (SEARRP). We thank SEARRP partners, especially Yayasan Sabah, for their support, and HSBC Malaysia and the University of Zurich for funding. We are grateful to the research assistants who are conducting the census, in particular the team leader Alex Karolus, and to Mike Bernados and Bill McDonald for species identifications. We thank Stuart Davies and Shameema Esufali for advice and training. tam plot measurements have been supported by several grants including from Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 (‘RAINFOR’) to O. L. Phillips and National Geographic. We also thank the Jardín Botánico de Missouri (Peru) for their field data assistance. We kindly thank Bryan Mark and Horizons Peru for collecting and providing the lidar data over tam. sep plot measurements have been supported by several grants, including the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant 291585 – ‘T-FORCES’) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NER/A/S/2000/01002) grants to O. L. Phillips and special thanks go to Lan Qie. Data from RAINFOR, African Tropical Rainforest Observatory Network and tropical forests in the changing earth system (T-FORCES) are curated by ForestPlots.net, a cyber-infrastructure initiative hosted at the University of Leeds that unites permanent plot records and their contributing scientists from the world’s tropical forests. This paper is an outcome of the ForestPlots.net approved research project #60 ‘Towards mapping pan-tropical tree species diversity using GEDI lidar data’. The development of ForestPlots.net was funded by several grants, including NE/B503384/1, NE/N012542/1 BIO-RED, ERC AdG 291585 ‘T-FORCES’, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 (‘RAINFOR’). The collection of field data in yan was done in the framework of the COBIMFO project (Congo Basin integrated monitoring for forest carbon mitigation and biodiversity; contract no. SD/AR/01A) and was funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo). The ‘Institut National pour l'Étude et la Recherche Agronomiques’ (INERA) assisted in plot establishment and provided logistical support (Belspo). We thank the World Wildlife Fund for funding and facilitating lidar data collection over yan and mal. Data collection on tree diversity in the Costa Rican sites (cha) was supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NSF DEB-0424767, NSF DEB-0639393, NSF DEB-1147429, NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program, and the University of Connecticut Research Foundation.

Funding Information:
This work is supported by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship 414 Program – Grant 80NSSC17K0321; NASA contract #NNL 15AA03C to the University of Maryland for the development and execution of the GEDI mission (Principal Investigator, R. Dubayah); and the NASA New Investigator grant 80NSSC18K0708. We express our sincere gratitude to the following people and institutions for collecting field and lidar data and permitting us to use their data in this research: NASA’s LVIS team, specifically Bryan Blair, Michelle Hofton and David Rabine for collecting airborne lidar data in ,,, , and , Gabon; Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN) and Agence Gabonaise d'Etudes et d'Observation for logistical support that facilitated both fieldwork and lidar data collection in Gabon, specifically Kathryn Jeffery, Lee White, Flore Koumba Pambo, Josue Edzang Ndong and David Lehmann from ANPN; European Space Agency for funding field data collection in through the AfriSAR campaign, ANPN and the University of Stirling at the Station d'Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzes field station for hosting, and specifically Carl Ditougou, Pacôme Dimbonda, Arthur Dibambou, Edmond Dimoto, and Napo Milamizokou; NASA for funding field data collection in through the AfriSAR campaign and ANPN for hosting it; Nicolas Barbier, Missouri Botanical Garden (Tariq Stevart), Golder Associates, P. Ploton, V. Droissart and Y. Issembe, for field data collection in . Shell Gabon and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for funding, and Pulcherie Bissiengou for guiding, field data collection in . This is contribution no. 196 of the Gabon Biodiversity Program. We thank Deborah Clark for her efforts in collecting field data in . and field and lidar data sets were acquired by the Sustainable Landscapes Brazil project supported by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the US Forest Service, and United States Agency for International Development, and the US Department of State. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Smithsonian the Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) Global Earth Observatory Network for funding and publishing field data collection in and J. W. Dalling for providing the lidar data in , which were funded through National Science Foundation (NSF) grant 0939907. The plot is a core project of the Southeast Asia Rain Forest Research Partnership (SEARRP). We thank SEARRP partners, especially Yayasan Sabah, for their support, and HSBC Malaysia and the University of Zurich for funding. We are grateful to the research assistants who are conducting the census, in particular the team leader Alex Karolus, and to Mike Bernados and Bill McDonald for species identifications. We thank Stuart Davies and Shameema Esufali for advice and training. plot measurements have been supported by several grants including from Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 (‘RAINFOR’) to O. L. Phillips and National Geographic. We also thank the Jardín Botánico de Missouri (Peru) for their field data assistance. We kindly thank Bryan Mark and Horizons Peru for collecting and providing the lidar data over . plot measurements have been supported by several grants, including the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant 291585 – ‘T‐FORCES’) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NER/A/S/2000/01002) grants to O. L. Phillips and special thanks go to Lan Qie. Data from RAINFOR, African Tropical Rainforest Observatory Network and tropical forests in the changing earth system (T‐FORCES) are curated by ForestPlots.net, a cyber‐infrastructure initiative hosted at the University of Leeds that unites permanent plot records and their contributing scientists from the world’s tropical forests. This paper is an outcome of the ForestPlots.net approved research project #60 ‘Towards mapping pan‐tropical tree species diversity using GEDI lidar data’. The development of ForestPlots.net was funded by several grants, including NE/B503384/1, NE/N012542/1 BIO‐RED, ERC AdG 291585 ‘T‐FORCES’, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 (‘RAINFOR’). The collection of field data in was done in the framework of the COBIMFO project (Congo Basin integrated monitoring for forest carbon mitigation and biodiversity; contract no. SD/AR/01A) and was funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo). The ‘Institut National pour l'Étude et la Recherche Agronomiques’ (INERA) assisted in plot establishment and provided logistical support (Belspo). We thank the World Wildlife Fund for funding and facilitating lidar data collection over and . Data collection on tree diversity in the Costa Rican sites () was supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NSF DEB‐0424767, NSF DEB‐0639393, NSF DEB‐1147429, NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program, and the University of Connecticut Research Foundation. lsv cha lop mon mab rab lop mon mab rab lsv s11 s12 bci bci dan tam tam sep yan yan mal cha

Data Availability Statement

Most of the field and lidar data used in this study are available and can be downloaded directly from the internet. Otherwise the data sets can be requested as described below. We have grouped the data in four groups: (a) LVIS lidar data, (b) ALS lidar data, (c) field data and (d) GEDI lidar data.

(a) LVIS lidar data

The LVIS data for the rab, lop, mon and mab study sites can be downloaded from the NASA data archive at the following https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1591

The LVIS data for the cha and lsv study sites are available on the following website: https://lvis.gsfc.nasa.gov/Data/Maps/CR2005Map.html

(b) ALS lidar data

The ALS data over rob are available through the auscover data portal ftp://qld.auscover.org.au/airborne_validation/lidar/robsons_creek/

The ALS data over s11 and s12 can be downloaded from the sustainable landscapes data portal http://www.paisagenslidar.cnptia.embrapa.br/webgis/

The ALS data over yan and mal are available through ArcGIS online at https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=a6095e77541d4ad88dc6f0945639d089

The ALS data over bci can be downloaded directly using the following download link: http://www.life.illinois.edu/dalling/lidar_data.tgz

The ALS data over tam are not publicly available online as they are actively supporting external research projects. However, anyone interested in working with this data can contact Chris Hopkinson (c.hopkinson@uleth.ca) or Ross Hill (rhill@bournemouth.ac.uk) to request access.

The ALS data over dan and sep are currently in the process of being made available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA) https://www.ceda.ac.uk/

(c) Field data

Field data from rob have been published through the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) data portal linked from https://supersites.tern.org.au/supersites/fnqr-robson

The dan, rab and bci field data are all available on request through the Forestgeo website at https://forestgeo.si.edu/explore-data: https://forestgeo.si.edu/explore-data/rabi-termsconditionsrequest-form, https://forestgeo.si.edu/explore-data/barro-colorado-island-termsconditionsrequest-forms, https://forestgeo.si.edu/explore-data/danum-valley-termsconditionsrequest-forms

The sep, lop, tam and yan field data are all available upon request through forestplots.net and can be found under the project names ‘sepilok’, ‘lope’, ‘tambopata’ and ‘yangambi’ at https://www.forestplots.net/en/

The mon field data are archived through the NASA data archiving center and available at https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1580

The s11 and s12 data were available through the data portals of the sustainable landscapes projects and can be found under the field data from the São Félix do Xingu region collected in 2011 and 2012 in the following data portal: http://www.paisagenslidar.cnptia.embrapa.br/webgis/

The cha field data set can be requested here http://neoselvas.wordpress.uconn.edu/data/

The lsv data can be accessed through the following website: https://tropicalstudies.org/carbono-project/#1554994367217-6bb19222-75b7

The mab field data are available through the following website: https://github.com/umr-amap/centrafriplots

The mal data are available upon request through https://www.gfbinitiative.org/datarequest

(d) GEDI lidar data

The different lidar data products from GEDI used to create Figure 8 can be download through https://doi.org/10.5067/GEDI/GEDI01_B.001, https://doi.org/10.5067/GEDI/GEDI02_A.001 and https://doi.org/10.5067/GEDI/GEDI02_B.001

Keywords

biodiversity
canopy structure
GEDI
lidar
plant area index
tropical forests

Access to Document

10.1111/geb.13158Licence: Unspecified

Cite this

Marselis, S. M., Abernethy, K., Alonso, A., Armston, J., Baker, T. R., Bastin, J. F., Bogaert, J., Boyd, D. S., Boeckx, P., Burslem, D. F. R. P., Chazdon, R., Clark, D. B., Coomes, D., Duncanson, L., Hancock, S., Hill, R., Hopkinson, C., Kearsley, E., Kellner, J. R., ... Dubayah, R. (2020). Evaluating the potential of full-waveform lidar for mapping pan-tropical tree species richness. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 29(10), 1799-1816. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13158

Marselis, SM, Abernethy, K, Alonso, A, Armston, J, Baker, TR, Bastin, JF, Bogaert, J, Boyd, DS, Boeckx, P, Burslem, DFRP, Chazdon, R, Clark, DB, Coomes, D, Duncanson, L, Hancock, S, Hill, R, Hopkinson, C, Kearsley, E, Kellner, JR, Kenfack, D, Labrière, N, Lewis, SL, Minor, D, Memiaghe, H, Monteagudo, A, Nilus, R, O'Brien, M, Phillips, OL, Poulsen, J, Tang, H, Verbeeck, H & Dubayah, R 2020, 'Evaluating the potential of full-waveform lidar for mapping pan-tropical tree species richness', Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 29, no. 10, pp. 1799-1816. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13158

@article{9153e91f8e10403bb2e4aaf99c1e091b,

title = "Evaluating the potential of full-waveform lidar for mapping pan-tropical tree species richness",

abstract = "Aim: Mapping tree species richness across the tropics is of great interest for effective conservation and biodiversity management. In this study, we evaluated the potential of full-waveform lidar data for mapping tree species richness across the tropics by relating measurements of vertical canopy structure, as a proxy for the occupation of vertical niche space, to tree species richness. Location: Tropics. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Trees. Methods: First, we evaluated the characteristics of vertical canopy structure across 15 study sites using (simulated) large-footprint full-waveform lidar data (22 m diameter) and related these findings to in-situ tree species information. Then, we developed structure–richness models at the local (within 25–50 ha plots), regional (biogeographical regions) and pan-tropical scale at three spatial resolutions (1.0, 0.25 and 0.0625 ha) using Poisson regression. Results: The results showed a weak structure–richness relationship at the local scale. At the regional scale (within a biogeographical region) a stronger relationship between canopy structure and tree species richness across different tropical forest types was found, for example across Central Africa and in South America [R2 ranging from.44–.56, root mean squared difference as a percentage of the mean (RMSD%) ranging between 23–61%]. Modelling the relationship pan-tropically, across four continents, 39% of the variation in tree species richness could be explained with canopy structure alone (R2 =.39 and RMSD% = 43%, 0.25-ha resolution). Main conclusions: Our results may serve as a basis for the future development of a set of structure–richness models to map high resolution tree species richness using vertical canopy structure information from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI). The value of this effort would be enhanced by access to a larger set of field reference data for all tropical regions. Future research could also support the use of GEDI data in frameworks using environmental and spectral information for modelling tree species richness across the tropics.",

keywords = "biodiversity, canopy structure, GEDI, lidar, plant area index, tropical forests",

author = "Marselis, {Suzanne M.} and Katharine Abernethy and Alfonso Alonso and John Armston and Baker, {Timothy R.} and Bastin, {Jean Francois} and Jan Bogaert and Boyd, {Doreen S.} and Pascal Boeckx and Burslem, {David F.R.P.} and Robin Chazdon and Clark, {David B.} and David Coomes and Laura Duncanson and Steven Hancock and Ross Hill and Chris Hopkinson and Elizabeth Kearsley and Kellner, {James R.} and David Kenfack and Nicolas Labri{\`e}re and Lewis, {Simon L.} and David Minor and Herv{\'e} Memiaghe and Abel Monteagudo and Reuben Nilus and Michael O'Brien and Phillips, {Oliver L.} and John Poulsen and Hao Tang and Hans Verbeeck and Ralph Dubayah",

note = "Funding Information: This work is supported by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship 414 Program – Grant 80NSSC17K0321; NASA contract #NNL 15AA03C to the University of Maryland for the development and execution of the GEDI mission (Principal Investigator, R. Dubayah); and the NASA New Investigator grant 80NSSC18K0708. We express our sincere gratitude to the following people and institutions for collecting field and lidar data and permitting us to use their data in this research: NASA{\textquoteright}s LVIS team, specifically Bryan Blair, Michelle Hofton and David Rabine for collecting airborne lidar data in lsv, cha, lop, mon, mab and rab, Gabon; Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN) and Agence Gabonaise d'Etudes et d'Observation for logistical support that facilitated both fieldwork and lidar data collection in Gabon, specifically Kathryn Jeffery, Lee White, Flore Koumba Pambo, Josue Edzang Ndong and David Lehmann from ANPN; European Space Agency for funding field data collection in lop through the AfriSAR campaign, ANPN and the University of Stirling at the Station d'Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzes field station for hosting, and specifically Carl Ditougou, Pac{\^o}me Dimbonda, Arthur Dibambou, Edmond Dimoto, and Napo Milamizokou; NASA for funding field data collection in mon through the AfriSAR campaign and ANPN for hosting it; Nicolas Barbier, Missouri Botanical Garden (Tariq Stevart), Golder Associates, P. Ploton, V. Droissart and Y. Issembe, for field data collection in mab. Shell Gabon and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for funding, and Pulcherie Bissiengou for guiding, field data collection in rab. This is contribution no. 196 of the Gabon Biodiversity Program. We thank Deborah Clark for her efforts in collecting field data in lsv. s11 and s12 field and lidar data sets were acquired by the Sustainable Landscapes Brazil project supported by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the US Forest Service, and United States Agency for International Development, and the US Department of State. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Smithsonian the Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) Global Earth Observatory Network for funding and publishing field data collection in bci and J. W. Dalling for providing the lidar data in bci, which were funded through National Science Foundation (NSF) grant 0939907. The dan plot is a core project of the Southeast Asia Rain Forest Research Partnership (SEARRP). We thank SEARRP partners, especially Yayasan Sabah, for their support, and HSBC Malaysia and the University of Zurich for funding. We are grateful to the research assistants who are conducting the census, in particular the team leader Alex Karolus, and to Mike Bernados and Bill McDonald for species identifications. We thank Stuart Davies and Shameema Esufali for advice and training. tam plot measurements have been supported by several grants including from Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 ({\textquoteleft}RAINFOR{\textquoteright}) to O. L. Phillips and National Geographic. We also thank the Jard{\'i}n Bot{\'a}nico de Missouri (Peru) for their field data assistance. We kindly thank Bryan Mark and Horizons Peru for collecting and providing the lidar data over tam. sep plot measurements have been supported by several grants, including the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant 291585 – {\textquoteleft}T-FORCES{\textquoteright}) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NER/A/S/2000/01002) grants to O. L. Phillips and special thanks go to Lan Qie. Data from RAINFOR, African Tropical Rainforest Observatory Network and tropical forests in the changing earth system (T-FORCES) are curated by ForestPlots.net, a cyber-infrastructure initiative hosted at the University of Leeds that unites permanent plot records and their contributing scientists from the world{\textquoteright}s tropical forests. This paper is an outcome of the ForestPlots.net approved research project #60 {\textquoteleft}Towards mapping pan-tropical tree species diversity using GEDI lidar data{\textquoteright}. The development of ForestPlots.net was funded by several grants, including NE/B503384/1, NE/N012542/1 BIO-RED, ERC AdG 291585 {\textquoteleft}T-FORCES{\textquoteright}, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 ({\textquoteleft}RAINFOR{\textquoteright}). The collection of field data in yan was done in the framework of the COBIMFO project (Congo Basin integrated monitoring for forest carbon mitigation and biodiversity; contract no. SD/AR/01A) and was funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo). The {\textquoteleft}Institut National pour l'{\'E}tude et la Recherche Agronomiques{\textquoteright} (INERA) assisted in plot establishment and provided logistical support (Belspo). We thank the World Wildlife Fund for funding and facilitating lidar data collection over yan and mal. Data collection on tree diversity in the Costa Rican sites (cha) was supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NSF DEB-0424767, NSF DEB-0639393, NSF DEB-1147429, NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program, and the University of Connecticut Research Foundation. Funding Information: This work is supported by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship 414 Program – Grant 80NSSC17K0321; NASA contract #NNL 15AA03C to the University of Maryland for the development and execution of the GEDI mission (Principal Investigator, R. Dubayah); and the NASA New Investigator grant 80NSSC18K0708. We express our sincere gratitude to the following people and institutions for collecting field and lidar data and permitting us to use their data in this research: NASA{\textquoteright}s LVIS team, specifically Bryan Blair, Michelle Hofton and David Rabine for collecting airborne lidar data in ,,, , and , Gabon; Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN) and Agence Gabonaise d'Etudes et d'Observation for logistical support that facilitated both fieldwork and lidar data collection in Gabon, specifically Kathryn Jeffery, Lee White, Flore Koumba Pambo, Josue Edzang Ndong and David Lehmann from ANPN; European Space Agency for funding field data collection in through the AfriSAR campaign, ANPN and the University of Stirling at the Station d'Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzes field station for hosting, and specifically Carl Ditougou, Pac{\^o}me Dimbonda, Arthur Dibambou, Edmond Dimoto, and Napo Milamizokou; NASA for funding field data collection in through the AfriSAR campaign and ANPN for hosting it; Nicolas Barbier, Missouri Botanical Garden (Tariq Stevart), Golder Associates, P. Ploton, V. Droissart and Y. Issembe, for field data collection in . Shell Gabon and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for funding, and Pulcherie Bissiengou for guiding, field data collection in . This is contribution no. 196 of the Gabon Biodiversity Program. We thank Deborah Clark for her efforts in collecting field data in . and field and lidar data sets were acquired by the Sustainable Landscapes Brazil project supported by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the US Forest Service, and United States Agency for International Development, and the US Department of State. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Smithsonian the Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) Global Earth Observatory Network for funding and publishing field data collection in and J. W. Dalling for providing the lidar data in , which were funded through National Science Foundation (NSF) grant 0939907. The plot is a core project of the Southeast Asia Rain Forest Research Partnership (SEARRP). We thank SEARRP partners, especially Yayasan Sabah, for their support, and HSBC Malaysia and the University of Zurich for funding. We are grateful to the research assistants who are conducting the census, in particular the team leader Alex Karolus, and to Mike Bernados and Bill McDonald for species identifications. We thank Stuart Davies and Shameema Esufali for advice and training. plot measurements have been supported by several grants including from Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 ({\textquoteleft}RAINFOR{\textquoteright}) to O. L. Phillips and National Geographic. We also thank the Jard{\'i}n Bot{\'a}nico de Missouri (Peru) for their field data assistance. We kindly thank Bryan Mark and Horizons Peru for collecting and providing the lidar data over . plot measurements have been supported by several grants, including the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant 291585 – {\textquoteleft}T‐FORCES{\textquoteright}) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NER/A/S/2000/01002) grants to O. L. Phillips and special thanks go to Lan Qie. Data from RAINFOR, African Tropical Rainforest Observatory Network and tropical forests in the changing earth system (T‐FORCES) are curated by ForestPlots.net, a cyber‐infrastructure initiative hosted at the University of Leeds that unites permanent plot records and their contributing scientists from the world{\textquoteright}s tropical forests. This paper is an outcome of the ForestPlots.net approved research project #60 {\textquoteleft}Towards mapping pan‐tropical tree species diversity using GEDI lidar data{\textquoteright}. The development of ForestPlots.net was funded by several grants, including NE/B503384/1, NE/N012542/1 BIO‐RED, ERC AdG 291585 {\textquoteleft}T‐FORCES{\textquoteright}, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 ({\textquoteleft}RAINFOR{\textquoteright}). The collection of field data in was done in the framework of the COBIMFO project (Congo Basin integrated monitoring for forest carbon mitigation and biodiversity; contract no. SD/AR/01A) and was funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo). The {\textquoteleft}Institut National pour l'{\'E}tude et la Recherche Agronomiques{\textquoteright} (INERA) assisted in plot establishment and provided logistical support (Belspo). We thank the World Wildlife Fund for funding and facilitating lidar data collection over and . Data collection on tree diversity in the Costa Rican sites () was supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NSF DEB‐0424767, NSF DEB‐0639393, NSF DEB‐1147429, NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program, and the University of Connecticut Research Foundation. lsv cha lop mon mab rab lop mon mab rab lsv s11 s12 bci bci dan tam tam sep yan yan mal cha ",

year = "2020",

month = oct,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1111/geb.13158",

language = "English",

volume = "29",

pages = "1799--1816",

journal = "Global Ecology and Biogeography",

issn = "1466-822X",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "10",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Evaluating the potential of full-waveform lidar for mapping pan-tropical tree species richness

AU - Marselis, Suzanne M.

AU - Abernethy, Katharine

AU - Alonso, Alfonso

AU - Armston, John

AU - Baker, Timothy R.

AU - Bastin, Jean Francois

AU - Bogaert, Jan

AU - Boyd, Doreen S.

AU - Boeckx, Pascal

AU - Burslem, David F.R.P.

AU - Chazdon, Robin

AU - Clark, David B.

AU - Coomes, David

AU - Duncanson, Laura

AU - Hancock, Steven

AU - Hill, Ross

AU - Hopkinson, Chris

AU - Kearsley, Elizabeth

AU - Kellner, James R.

AU - Kenfack, David

AU - Labrière, Nicolas

AU - Lewis, Simon L.

AU - Minor, David

AU - Memiaghe, Hervé

AU - Monteagudo, Abel

AU - Nilus, Reuben

AU - O'Brien, Michael

AU - Phillips, Oliver L.

AU - Poulsen, John

AU - Tang, Hao

AU - Verbeeck, Hans

AU - Dubayah, Ralph

N1 - Funding Information: This work is supported by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship 414 Program – Grant 80NSSC17K0321; NASA contract #NNL 15AA03C to the University of Maryland for the development and execution of the GEDI mission (Principal Investigator, R. Dubayah); and the NASA New Investigator grant 80NSSC18K0708. We express our sincere gratitude to the following people and institutions for collecting field and lidar data and permitting us to use their data in this research: NASA’s LVIS team, specifically Bryan Blair, Michelle Hofton and David Rabine for collecting airborne lidar data in lsv, cha, lop, mon, mab and rab, Gabon; Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN) and Agence Gabonaise d'Etudes et d'Observation for logistical support that facilitated both fieldwork and lidar data collection in Gabon, specifically Kathryn Jeffery, Lee White, Flore Koumba Pambo, Josue Edzang Ndong and David Lehmann from ANPN; European Space Agency for funding field data collection in lop through the AfriSAR campaign, ANPN and the University of Stirling at the Station d'Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzes field station for hosting, and specifically Carl Ditougou, Pacôme Dimbonda, Arthur Dibambou, Edmond Dimoto, and Napo Milamizokou; NASA for funding field data collection in mon through the AfriSAR campaign and ANPN for hosting it; Nicolas Barbier, Missouri Botanical Garden (Tariq Stevart), Golder Associates, P. Ploton, V. Droissart and Y. Issembe, for field data collection in mab. Shell Gabon and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for funding, and Pulcherie Bissiengou for guiding, field data collection in rab. This is contribution no. 196 of the Gabon Biodiversity Program. We thank Deborah Clark for her efforts in collecting field data in lsv. s11 and s12 field and lidar data sets were acquired by the Sustainable Landscapes Brazil project supported by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the US Forest Service, and United States Agency for International Development, and the US Department of State. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Smithsonian the Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) Global Earth Observatory Network for funding and publishing field data collection in bci and J. W. Dalling for providing the lidar data in bci, which were funded through National Science Foundation (NSF) grant 0939907. The dan plot is a core project of the Southeast Asia Rain Forest Research Partnership (SEARRP). We thank SEARRP partners, especially Yayasan Sabah, for their support, and HSBC Malaysia and the University of Zurich for funding. We are grateful to the research assistants who are conducting the census, in particular the team leader Alex Karolus, and to Mike Bernados and Bill McDonald for species identifications. We thank Stuart Davies and Shameema Esufali for advice and training. tam plot measurements have been supported by several grants including from Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 (‘RAINFOR’) to O. L. Phillips and National Geographic. We also thank the Jardín Botánico de Missouri (Peru) for their field data assistance. We kindly thank Bryan Mark and Horizons Peru for collecting and providing the lidar data over tam. sep plot measurements have been supported by several grants, including the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant 291585 – ‘T-FORCES’) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NER/A/S/2000/01002) grants to O. L. Phillips and special thanks go to Lan Qie. Data from RAINFOR, African Tropical Rainforest Observatory Network and tropical forests in the changing earth system (T-FORCES) are curated by ForestPlots.net, a cyber-infrastructure initiative hosted at the University of Leeds that unites permanent plot records and their contributing scientists from the world’s tropical forests. This paper is an outcome of the ForestPlots.net approved research project #60 ‘Towards mapping pan-tropical tree species diversity using GEDI lidar data’. The development of ForestPlots.net was funded by several grants, including NE/B503384/1, NE/N012542/1 BIO-RED, ERC AdG 291585 ‘T-FORCES’, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 (‘RAINFOR’). The collection of field data in yan was done in the framework of the COBIMFO project (Congo Basin integrated monitoring for forest carbon mitigation and biodiversity; contract no. SD/AR/01A) and was funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo). The ‘Institut National pour l'Étude et la Recherche Agronomiques’ (INERA) assisted in plot establishment and provided logistical support (Belspo). We thank the World Wildlife Fund for funding and facilitating lidar data collection over yan and mal. Data collection on tree diversity in the Costa Rican sites (cha) was supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NSF DEB-0424767, NSF DEB-0639393, NSF DEB-1147429, NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program, and the University of Connecticut Research Foundation. Funding Information: This work is supported by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship 414 Program – Grant 80NSSC17K0321; NASA contract #NNL 15AA03C to the University of Maryland for the development and execution of the GEDI mission (Principal Investigator, R. Dubayah); and the NASA New Investigator grant 80NSSC18K0708. We express our sincere gratitude to the following people and institutions for collecting field and lidar data and permitting us to use their data in this research: NASA’s LVIS team, specifically Bryan Blair, Michelle Hofton and David Rabine for collecting airborne lidar data in ,,, , and , Gabon; Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux (ANPN) and Agence Gabonaise d'Etudes et d'Observation for logistical support that facilitated both fieldwork and lidar data collection in Gabon, specifically Kathryn Jeffery, Lee White, Flore Koumba Pambo, Josue Edzang Ndong and David Lehmann from ANPN; European Space Agency for funding field data collection in through the AfriSAR campaign, ANPN and the University of Stirling at the Station d'Etudes des Gorilles et Chimpanzes field station for hosting, and specifically Carl Ditougou, Pacôme Dimbonda, Arthur Dibambou, Edmond Dimoto, and Napo Milamizokou; NASA for funding field data collection in through the AfriSAR campaign and ANPN for hosting it; Nicolas Barbier, Missouri Botanical Garden (Tariq Stevart), Golder Associates, P. Ploton, V. Droissart and Y. Issembe, for field data collection in . Shell Gabon and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for funding, and Pulcherie Bissiengou for guiding, field data collection in . This is contribution no. 196 of the Gabon Biodiversity Program. We thank Deborah Clark for her efforts in collecting field data in . and field and lidar data sets were acquired by the Sustainable Landscapes Brazil project supported by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), the US Forest Service, and United States Agency for International Development, and the US Department of State. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Smithsonian the Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) Global Earth Observatory Network for funding and publishing field data collection in and J. W. Dalling for providing the lidar data in , which were funded through National Science Foundation (NSF) grant 0939907. The plot is a core project of the Southeast Asia Rain Forest Research Partnership (SEARRP). We thank SEARRP partners, especially Yayasan Sabah, for their support, and HSBC Malaysia and the University of Zurich for funding. We are grateful to the research assistants who are conducting the census, in particular the team leader Alex Karolus, and to Mike Bernados and Bill McDonald for species identifications. We thank Stuart Davies and Shameema Esufali for advice and training. plot measurements have been supported by several grants including from Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 (‘RAINFOR’) to O. L. Phillips and National Geographic. We also thank the Jardín Botánico de Missouri (Peru) for their field data assistance. We kindly thank Bryan Mark and Horizons Peru for collecting and providing the lidar data over . plot measurements have been supported by several grants, including the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant 291585 – ‘T‐FORCES’) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NER/A/S/2000/01002) grants to O. L. Phillips and special thanks go to Lan Qie. Data from RAINFOR, African Tropical Rainforest Observatory Network and tropical forests in the changing earth system (T‐FORCES) are curated by ForestPlots.net, a cyber‐infrastructure initiative hosted at the University of Leeds that unites permanent plot records and their contributing scientists from the world’s tropical forests. This paper is an outcome of the ForestPlots.net approved research project #60 ‘Towards mapping pan‐tropical tree species diversity using GEDI lidar data’. The development of ForestPlots.net was funded by several grants, including NE/B503384/1, NE/N012542/1 BIO‐RED, ERC AdG 291585 ‘T‐FORCES’, and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation #1656 (‘RAINFOR’). The collection of field data in was done in the framework of the COBIMFO project (Congo Basin integrated monitoring for forest carbon mitigation and biodiversity; contract no. SD/AR/01A) and was funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo). The ‘Institut National pour l'Étude et la Recherche Agronomiques’ (INERA) assisted in plot establishment and provided logistical support (Belspo). We thank the World Wildlife Fund for funding and facilitating lidar data collection over and . Data collection on tree diversity in the Costa Rican sites () was supported by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NSF DEB‐0424767, NSF DEB‐0639393, NSF DEB‐1147429, NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program, and the University of Connecticut Research Foundation. lsv cha lop mon mab rab lop mon mab rab lsv s11 s12 bci bci dan tam tam sep yan yan mal cha

PY - 2020/10/1

Y1 - 2020/10/1

N2 - Aim: Mapping tree species richness across the tropics is of great interest for effective conservation and biodiversity management. In this study, we evaluated the potential of full-waveform lidar data for mapping tree species richness across the tropics by relating measurements of vertical canopy structure, as a proxy for the occupation of vertical niche space, to tree species richness. Location: Tropics. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Trees. Methods: First, we evaluated the characteristics of vertical canopy structure across 15 study sites using (simulated) large-footprint full-waveform lidar data (22 m diameter) and related these findings to in-situ tree species information. Then, we developed structure–richness models at the local (within 25–50 ha plots), regional (biogeographical regions) and pan-tropical scale at three spatial resolutions (1.0, 0.25 and 0.0625 ha) using Poisson regression. Results: The results showed a weak structure–richness relationship at the local scale. At the regional scale (within a biogeographical region) a stronger relationship between canopy structure and tree species richness across different tropical forest types was found, for example across Central Africa and in South America [R2 ranging from.44–.56, root mean squared difference as a percentage of the mean (RMSD%) ranging between 23–61%]. Modelling the relationship pan-tropically, across four continents, 39% of the variation in tree species richness could be explained with canopy structure alone (R2 =.39 and RMSD% = 43%, 0.25-ha resolution). Main conclusions: Our results may serve as a basis for the future development of a set of structure–richness models to map high resolution tree species richness using vertical canopy structure information from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI). The value of this effort would be enhanced by access to a larger set of field reference data for all tropical regions. Future research could also support the use of GEDI data in frameworks using environmental and spectral information for modelling tree species richness across the tropics.

AB - Aim: Mapping tree species richness across the tropics is of great interest for effective conservation and biodiversity management. In this study, we evaluated the potential of full-waveform lidar data for mapping tree species richness across the tropics by relating measurements of vertical canopy structure, as a proxy for the occupation of vertical niche space, to tree species richness. Location: Tropics. Time period: Present. Major taxa studied: Trees. Methods: First, we evaluated the characteristics of vertical canopy structure across 15 study sites using (simulated) large-footprint full-waveform lidar data (22 m diameter) and related these findings to in-situ tree species information. Then, we developed structure–richness models at the local (within 25–50 ha plots), regional (biogeographical regions) and pan-tropical scale at three spatial resolutions (1.0, 0.25 and 0.0625 ha) using Poisson regression. Results: The results showed a weak structure–richness relationship at the local scale. At the regional scale (within a biogeographical region) a stronger relationship between canopy structure and tree species richness across different tropical forest types was found, for example across Central Africa and in South America [R2 ranging from.44–.56, root mean squared difference as a percentage of the mean (RMSD%) ranging between 23–61%]. Modelling the relationship pan-tropically, across four continents, 39% of the variation in tree species richness could be explained with canopy structure alone (R2 =.39 and RMSD% = 43%, 0.25-ha resolution). Main conclusions: Our results may serve as a basis for the future development of a set of structure–richness models to map high resolution tree species richness using vertical canopy structure information from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI). The value of this effort would be enhanced by access to a larger set of field reference data for all tropical regions. Future research could also support the use of GEDI data in frameworks using environmental and spectral information for modelling tree species richness across the tropics.

KW - biodiversity

KW - canopy structure

KW - GEDI

KW - lidar

KW - plant area index

KW - tropical forests

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088583362&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/geb.13158

DO - 10.1111/geb.13158

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85088583362

SN - 1466-822X

VL - 29

SP - 1799

EP - 1816

JO - Global Ecology and Biogeography

JF - Global Ecology and Biogeography

IS - 10

ER -

Evaluating the potential of full-waveform lidar for mapping pan-tropical tree species richness

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