Using Airborne Laser Scanning and Sentinel‐2 to Understand Subcanopy Light Regimes and Understory Diversity of Vascular Plants in Temperate Mountain Forests

IF 5.2 2区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation Pub Date : 2026-06-16 DOI:10.1002/rse2.70086

Felix Wieland‐Glasmann, Cornelius Senf, Kristin H. Braziunas, Rupert Seidl, Peter Annighöfer

{"title":"Using Airborne Laser Scanning and Sentinel‐2 to Understand Subcanopy Light Regimes and Understory Diversity of Vascular Plants in Temperate Mountain Forests","authors":"Felix Wieland‐Glasmann, Cornelius Senf, Kristin H. Braziunas, Rupert Seidl, Peter Annighöfer","doi":"10.1002/rse2.70086","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Canopy cover modulates the subcanopy light regime in forests—variations in canopy cover alter both, the amount and spatial distribution of light, representing the source of energy for plants. Because plant species differ regarding their adaptations to light, canopy‐driven light regimes play a key role in structuring understory composition and diversity. Here, we evaluated if Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) and Sentinel‐2 can map subcanopy light regimes across three study sites ( n = 244 plot locations) along the German Alps. We then examined how understory vascular plant species richness varies with subcanopy light regimes. We found light availability increases linearly (Adj. R 2 0.84/RMSE 0.09) with ALS‐derived gap proportion (i.e., inverse of canopy cover), whereas light variability (Adj. R 2 0.46/RMSE 0.05) follows a hump‐shaped pattern. The relationship between the subcanopy light regime and vascular plant species richness in the understory (Adj. R 2 0.39/RMSE 12.77), was equally well described by ALS‐derived gap proportion (Adj. R 2 0.40/RMSE 12.70). Canopy cover described by NDWI from Sentinel‐2 showed similar relationships and could be used to characterize light availability (Adj. R 2 0.43/RMSE 0.18), light variability (Adj. R 2 0.21/RMSE 0.06), and understory vascular plant species richness (Adj. R 2 0.31/RMSE 13.70), albeit with lower variance explained. Understory vascular plant species richness increased with higher light availability and variability, indicating that canopy cover heterogeneity is an important driver of biodiversity next to overall canopy cover. Using spaceborne sensor systems might enable repeatable, large‐scale mapping of canopy cover and thus also understory diversity, as our results suggest such sensors provide similar insights as gold‐standard ALS data, which remain scarce. Understanding the links between canopy cover, the subcanopy light regime, and understory diversity is therefore essential for predicting vegetation dynamics and supporting biodiversity‐oriented forest management.","PeriodicalId":21132,"journal":{"name":"Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation","volume":"17 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.2000,"publicationDate":"2026-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.70086","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ECOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Canopy cover modulates the subcanopy light regime in forests—variations in canopy cover alter both, the amount and spatial distribution of light, representing the source of energy for plants. Because plant species differ regarding their adaptations to light, canopy‐driven light regimes play a key role in structuring understory composition and diversity. Here, we evaluated if Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) and Sentinel‐2 can map subcanopy light regimes across three study sites ( n = 244 plot locations) along the German Alps. We then examined how understory vascular plant species richness varies with subcanopy light regimes. We found light availability increases linearly (Adj. R 2 0.84/RMSE 0.09) with ALS‐derived gap proportion (i.e., inverse of canopy cover), whereas light variability (Adj. R 2 0.46/RMSE 0.05) follows a hump‐shaped pattern. The relationship between the subcanopy light regime and vascular plant species richness in the understory (Adj. R 2 0.39/RMSE 12.77), was equally well described by ALS‐derived gap proportion (Adj. R 2 0.40/RMSE 12.70). Canopy cover described by NDWI from Sentinel‐2 showed similar relationships and could be used to characterize light availability (Adj. R 2 0.43/RMSE 0.18), light variability (Adj. R 2 0.21/RMSE 0.06), and understory vascular plant species richness (Adj. R 2 0.31/RMSE 13.70), albeit with lower variance explained. Understory vascular plant species richness increased with higher light availability and variability, indicating that canopy cover heterogeneity is an important driver of biodiversity next to overall canopy cover. Using spaceborne sensor systems might enable repeatable, large‐scale mapping of canopy cover and thus also understory diversity, as our results suggest such sensors provide similar insights as gold‐standard ALS data, which remain scarce. Understanding the links between canopy cover, the subcanopy light regime, and understory diversity is therefore essential for predicting vegetation dynamics and supporting biodiversity‐oriented forest management.

查看原文本刊更多论文

利用机载激光扫描和Sentinel - 2了解温带山林维管植物的冠下光照状况和林下多样性

林冠覆盖调节了森林林冠下的光状态——林冠覆盖的变化改变了光的数量和空间分布，代表了植物的能量来源。由于植物物种对光的适应性不同，冠层驱动的光照制度在林下植被组成和多样性的结构中起着关键作用。在这里，我们评估了机载激光扫描（ALS）和Sentinel‐2是否可以绘制德国阿尔卑斯山沿线三个研究地点（244个样点）的冠下光照状况。然后，我们研究了林下维管植物物种丰富度随林下光照制度的变化。我们发现，光有效性与ALS衍生的林隙比例（即冠层覆盖度的反比）呈线性增加（相对值0.84/RMSE 0.09），而光变异性（相对值0.46/RMSE 0.05）呈驼峰形模式。林冠下光照状况与林下维管植物物种丰富度的关系（相对值0.39/RMSE 12.77）同样可以用ALS衍生的林隙比例（相对值0.40/RMSE 12.70）来描述。Sentinel‐2的NDWI描述的林冠覆盖度也表现出类似的关系，可以用来表征光有效性（相对值0.43/RMSE 0.18）、光变异性（相对值0.21/RMSE 0.06）和林下维管植物物种丰富度（相对值0.31/RMSE 13.70），尽管方差解释较低。林下维管植物物种丰富度随光有效度和变率的增加而增加，表明冠层覆盖度异质性是生物多样性的重要驱动因素。使用星载传感器系统可以实现可重复的、大规模的树冠覆盖测绘，从而也可以绘制林下植被多样性，因为我们的研究结果表明，这种传感器提供了与黄金标准ALS数据相似的见解，而黄金标准ALS数据仍然稀缺。因此，了解冠层覆盖、亚冠层光照状况和林下植被多样性之间的联系对于预测植被动态和支持以生物多样性为导向的森林管理至关重要。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation Earth and Planetary Sciences-Computers in Earth Sciences

CiteScore

9.80

自引率

5.50%

发文量

审稿时长

18 weeks

期刊介绍： emote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation provides a forum for rapid, peer-reviewed publication of novel, multidisciplinary research at the interface between remote sensing science and ecology and conservation. The journal prioritizes findings that advance the scientific basis of ecology and conservation, promoting the development of remote-sensing based methods relevant to the management of land use and biological systems at all levels, from populations and species to ecosystems and biomes. The journal defines remote sensing in its broadest sense, including data acquisition by hand-held and fixed ground-based sensors, such as camera traps and acoustic recorders, and sensors on airplanes and satellites. The intended journal’s audience includes ecologists, conservation scientists, policy makers, managers of terrestrial and aquatic systems, remote sensing scientists, and students. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation is a fully open access journal from Wiley and the Zoological Society of London. Remote sensing has enormous potential as to provide information on the state of, and pressures on, biological diversity and ecosystem services, at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This new publication provides a forum for multidisciplinary research in remote sensing science, ecological research and conservation science.