Loading...
Pubblicazioni Scientifiche
Filtri di ricerca 4 risultati
Pubblicazioni per anno
Widespread Crown Defoliation After a Drought and Heat Wave in the Forests of Tuscany (Central Italy) and Their Recovery—A Case Study From Summer 2017
Mostra abstract
An anomalous event of drought and heat occurred in central Italy during the summer of 2017. Based on the SPI (Standardized Precipitation Index) and data from the European Space Agency, this event started in November 2016 and was characterized by a strong reduction of precipitation and soil moisture, especially in lowland areas with Mediterranean climate. The aim of this case report were to describe the impact of this event on representative forest communities in central Italy, to analyze the different responses of deciduous and evergreen tree and shrub species in contrasting environmental conditions and to assess their subsequent capacity of recovery or, if not, mortality. Trees suffered severe impacts consisting of widespread crown defoliation, leaf desiccation, crown dieback and whole tree mortality. Deciduous tree species (Fagus sylvatica, Quercus pubescens, Quercus cerris) shed their leaves during the summer, but apical buds and twigs were preserved. This allowed these species to produce new shoots in the following year (2018) and to restore the canopy closure of the stands. Mediterranean evergreen broadleaves, such as Quercus ilex and Phillyrea latifolia suffered of total or partial crown desiccation with wilting leaves and branch dieback. These species partially resprouted in 2018 from axillary and latent buds. The case presented here is discussed within the wider context of the impacts of climate change on Mediterranean forests. Future research directions should include an effective forest monitoring system that combines terrestrial and remote sensing surveys, ad hoc field climate change experiments and silvicultural trials from the perspective of proactive management for the adaptation of forests to future climatic conditions. © Copyright © 2019 Pollastrini, Puletti, Selvi, Iacopetti and Bussotti.
Individual tree crown segmentation in two-layered dense mixed forests from uav lidar data
Torresan
,
C.
,
Carotenuto
,
Federico
,
Chiavetta
,
U.
,
Miglietta
,
F.
,
Zaldei
,
Alessandro
,
Gioli
,
Beniamino
forest inventory
detection rate
itc detection algorithms
itcsegment package
laser scanning
lidr package
parameter calibration
Mostra abstract
In forests with dense mixed canopies, laser scanning is often the only effective technique to acquire forest inventory attributes, rather than structure-from-motion optical methods. This study investigates the potential of laser scanner data collected with a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle laser scanner (UAV-LS), for individual tree crown (ITC) delineation to derive forest biometric parameters, over two-layered dense mixed forest stands in central Italy. A raster-based local maxima region growing algorithm (itcLiDAR) and a point cloud-based algorithm (li2012) were applied to isolate individual tree crowns, compute height and crown area, estimate the diameter at breast height (DBH) and the above ground biomass (AGB) of individual trees. To maximize the level of detection rate, the ITC algorithm parameters were tuned varying 1350 setting combinations and matching the segmented trees with field measured trees. For each setting, the delineation accuracy was assessed by computing the detection rate, the omission and commission errors over three forest plots. Segmentation using itcLiDAR showed detection rates between 40% and 57%, while ITC delineation was successful at segmenting trees with DBH larger than 10 cm (detection rate ~78%), while failed to detect trees with smaller DBH (detection rate ~37%). The performance of li2012 was quite lower with the higher detection rate equal to 27%. Errors and goodness-of-fit between field-surveyed and flight-derived biometric parameters (AGB and tree height) were species-dependent, with higher error and lower r<sup>2</sup> for shorter species that constitute the lowermost layer of the forest. Overall, while the application of UAV-LS to delineate tree crowns and estimate biometric parameters is satisfactory, its accuracy is affected by the presence of a multilayered and multispecies canopy that will require specific approaches and algorithms to better deal with the added complexity. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Development and performance assessment of a low-cost UAV laser scanner system (LasUAV)
Torresan
,
C.
,
Berton
,
Andrea
,
Carotenuto
,
Federico
,
Chiavetta
,
U.
,
Miglietta
,
F.
,
Zaldei
,
Alessandro
,
Gioli
,
Beniamino
lidar
forest monitoring
global navigation satellite system
real-time kinematics technology
system designing
system testing
Mostra abstract
This study reports on a low-cost unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-borne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) system called LasUAV, from hardware selection and integration to the generation of three-dimensional point clouds, and an assessment of its performance. Measurement uncertainties were estimated in angular static, angular dynamic, and real flight conditions. The results of these experiments indicate that the point cloud elevation accuracy in the case of angular static acquisition was 3.8 cm, and increased to 3.9 cm in angular dynamic acquisition. In-flight data were acquired over a target surveyed by nine single passages in different flight directions and platform orientations. In this case, the uncertainty of elevation ranged between 5.1 cm and 9.8 cm for each single passage. The combined elevation uncertainty in the case of multiple passages (i.e., the combination of one to nine passages from the set of nine passages) ranged between 5 cm (one passage) and 16 cm (nine passages). The study demonstrates that the positioning device, i.e., the Global Navigation Satellite System real-time kinematic (GNSS RTK) receiver, is the sensor that mostly influences the system performance, followed by the attitude measurement device and the laser sensor. Consequently, strong efforts and greater economic investment should be devoted to GNSS RTK receivers in low-cost custom integrated systems. © 2018 by the authors.
TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access
Kattge
,
Jens
,
Bönisch
,
Gerhard
,
Díaz
,
Sandra M.
,
Lavorel
,
Sandra
,
Prentice
,
Iain Colin
,
Leadley
,
Paul W.
,
Tautenhahn
,
Susanne
,
Werner
,
Gijsbert
,
Aakala
,
Tuomas
,
Abedi
,
Mehdi
,
Acosta
,
Alicia Teresa Rosario
,
Adamidis
,
George C.
,
Adamson
,
Kairi
,
Aiba
,
Masahiro
,
Albert
,
Cécile Hélène
,
Alcántara
,
Julio M.
,
Alcázar C
,
Carolina
,
Aleixo
,
Izabela
,
Ali
,
Hamada E.
,
Amiaud
,
Bernard
,
Ammer
,
Christian
,
Amoroso
,
Mariano Martín
,
Anand
,
Madhur
,
Anderson
,
Carolyn G.
,
Anten
,
Niels P.R.
,
Antos
,
Joseph A.
,
Apgaua
,
Deborah Mattos Guimarães
,
Ashman
,
Tia Lynn
,
Asmara
,
Degi Harja
,
Asner
,
Gregory P.
,
Aspinwall
,
Michael J.
,
Atkin
,
Owen K.
,
Aubin
,
Isabelle
,
Baastrup-Spohr
,
Lars
,
Bahalkeh
,
Khadijeh
,
Bahn
,
Michael
,
Baker
,
Timothy R.
,
Baker
,
William J.
,
Bakker
,
Jan P.
,
Baldocchi
,
Dennis D.
,
Baltzer
,
Jennifer L.
,
Banerjee
,
Arindam
,
Baranger
,
Anne
,
Barlow
,
Jos B.
,
Barneche
,
Diego R.
,
Baruch
,
Zdravko
,
Bastianelli
,
Denis
,
Battles
,
John J.
,
Bauerle
,
William L.
,
Bauters
,
Marijn
,
Bazzato
,
Erika
,
Beckmann
,
Michael
,
Beeckman
,
Hans
,
Beierkuhnlein
,
Carl
,
Bekker
,
Renée M.
,
Belfry
,
Gavin
,
Belluau
,
Michaël
,
Beloiu Schwenke
,
Mirela
,
Benavides
,
Raquel
,
Benomar
,
Lahcen
,
Berdugo-Lattke
,
Mary Lee
,
Berenguer
,
Erika
,
Bergamin
,
Rodrigo Scarton
,
Bergmann
,
Joana
,
Carlucci
,
Marcos B.
,
Berner
,
Logan T.
,
Bernhardt-Römermann
,
Markus
,
Bigler
,
Christof
,
Bjorkman
,
Anne D.
,
Blackman
,
Chris J.
,
Blanco
,
Carolina Casagrande
,
Blonder
,
Benjamin Wong
,
Blumenthal
,
Dana M.
,
Bocanegra-González
,
Kelly Tatiana
,
Boeckx
,
Pascal
,
Bohlman
,
Stephanie Ann
,
Böhning-Gaese
,
Katrin
,
Boisvert-Marsh
,
Laura
,
Bond
,
William J.
,
Bond-Lamberty
,
Ben P.
,
Boom
,
Arnoud
,
Boonman
,
Coline C.F.
,
Bordin
,
Kauane Maiara
,
Boughton
,
Elizabeth H.
,
Boukili
,
Vanessa K.S.
,
Bowman
,
David M.J.S.
,
Bravo
,
Sandra Josefina
,
Brendel
,
Marco R.
,
Broadley
,
Martin R.
,
Brown
,
Kerry A.
,
Bruelheide
,
Helge
,
Brumnich
,
Federico
,
Bruun
,
Hans Henrik
,
Bruy
,
David
,
Buchanan
,
Serra Willow
,
Bucher
,
Solveig Franziska
,
Buchmann
,
Nina
,
Buitenwerf
,
Robert
,
Bunker
,
Daniel E.
,
Bürger
,
Jana
functional diversity
data coverage
data integration
data representativeness
plant traits
try plant trait database
Mostra abstract
Plant traits—the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants—determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits—almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives. © 2019 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd