Beyond potential vegetation: Combining lidar data and a height-structured model for carbon studies

Ecological Applications

Volumn 14, Issue 3, 2004, Pages 873-883

  Hurtt, George C ^a   Dubayah, Ralph ^b   Drake, Jason ^b,c   Moorcroft, Paul R ^d   Pacala, Stephen W ^e   Blair, J Bryan ^f   Fearon, Matthew G ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA   (United States)

^d HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^e PRINCETON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^f NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER   (United States)

Author keywords

Aboveground biomass; Carbon fluxes; Costa Rica; Ecosystem demography; Ecosystem modeling; La Selva; Lidar; Regional carbon stocks; Remote sensing

Indexed keywords

CARBON FLUX; CARBON SEQUESTRATION; ECOSYSTEM MODELING; LIDAR; REMOTE SENSING; VEGETATION STRUCTURE;

CENTRAL AMERICA; COSTA RICA; HEREDIA; LA SELVA; WESTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

EID: 8344287085     PISSN: 10510761     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1890/02-5317     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. Baldocchi, D., E. Fagle, L. H. Gu, R. Olson, D. Hollinger, S. Running, P. Anthoni, C. Bernhofer, K. Davis, R. Evans, J. Fuentes, A. Goldstein, et al. 2001. FLUXNET: a new tool to study the temporal and spatial variability of ecosystem-scale carbon dioxide, water vapor, and energy flux densities. Bulletin of the American Meterological Society 82(11):2415-2434.
2. 13. Science 287:2467-2470.
3. Belward, A. S., J. E. Estes, and K. D. Kline. 1999. The IGBP-DIS global 1-k land cover data set DISCover: a project overview. (Photogram.) Engineering Remote Sensing 65: 1013-1020.
4. Birdsey, R. A., and H. T. Schreuder. 1992. An overview of forest inventory and analysis estimation procedures in the eastern united states - with emphasis on the components of change. General Technical Report RM-214. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
5. Blair, J. B., D. L. Rabine, and M. A. Hofton. 1999. The laser vegetation imaging sensor (LVIS). ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 54:115-122.
6. Botkin, D. B., J. F. Janak, and J. R. Wallis. 1972. Some ecological consequences of a computer model of plant growth. Ecology 60:849-873.
7. Brown, S. 1997. Estimating biomass and biomass change of tropical forests: a primer. UN-FAO Forestry Paper 134, Rome, Italy.
8. 2 measurements. Ecological Applications 10:1574-1589.
9. Clark, D. B., and D. A. Clark. 2000. Landscape-scale variation in forest structure and biomass in a tropical rain forest. Forest Ecology and Management 137:185-198.
10. Clark, D. B., M. W. Palmer, and D. A. Clark. 1999. Edaphic factors and the landscape-scale distributions of tropical rain forest trees. Ecology 80:2662-2675.
11. Curran, P. J., G. M. Foody, R. M. Lucas, M. Honzak, and J. Grace. 1997. The carbon balance of tropical forests: from the local to the regional scale. Pages 201-227 in P. R. van Gardingen, G. M. Foody, and P. J. Curran, editors. Scaling-up from cell to landscape. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
12. Drake, J. B., R. O. Dubayah, D. B. Clark, R. G. Knox, J. B. Blair, M. A. Hofton, R. L. Chazdon, J. F. Weishampel, and S. Prince. 2002a. Estimation of tropical forest structural characteristics using large-footprint lidar. Remote Sensing of Environment 79:305-319.
13. Drake, J. B., R. O. Dubayah, R. G. Knox, D. B. Clark, and J. B. Blair. 2002b. Sensitivity of large-footprint lidar to canopy structure and biomass in a neotropical rainforest. Remote Sensing of Environment 81:378-392.
14. Drake, J. B., R. G. Knox, R. O. Dubayah, D. B. Clark, R. Condit, J. B. Blair, and M. Hofton. 2003. Aboveground biomass estimation in closed-canopy Neotropical forests using lidar remote sensing: factors affecting generality of relationships. Global Ecology and Biogeography 12:147-159.
15. Drake, J. B., and J. F. Weishampel. 2000. Multifractal analysis of canopy height measures in a longleaf pine savanna. Forest Ecology and Management 128:121-127.
16. Dubayah, R., J. B. Blair, J. Bufton, D. Clark, J. JaJa, R. Knox, S. Luthcke, S. Prince, and J. Weishampel. 1997. The vegetation canopy lidar mission. Pages 100-112 in Proceedings of land satellite information in the next decade. II: Sources and applications. American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
17. Dubayah, R. O., and J. B. Drake. 2000. Lidar remote sensing for forestry. Journal of Forestry 98:44-46.
18. Dubayah, R. O., R. G. Knox, M. A. Hofton, J. B. Blair, and J. B. Drake. 2000. Land surface characterization using lidar remote sensing. Pages 25-38 in M. J. Hill and R. J. Aspinall, editors. Spatial information for land use management. Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
19. Fan, S., M. Gloor, J. Mahlman, S. Pacala, J. Sarmiento, T. Takahashi, and P. Tans. 1998. A large terrestrial carbon sink in North America implied by atmospheric and oceanic carbon dioxide data and models. Science 282:442-446.
20. Foody, G. M., G. Palubinskas, R. M. Lucas, P. J. Curran, and M. Honzak. 1996. Identifying terrestrial carbon sinks: classification of successional stages in regenerating tropical forest from Landsat TM data. Remote Sensing of Environment 55:205-216.
21. Gillespie, A. J. R. 1999. Rationale for a national annual forest inventory program. Journal of Forestry 97(12):16-20.
22. Gloor, M., S. M. Fan, S. Pacala, and J. Sarmiento. 2000. Optimal sampling of the atmosphere for purpose of inverse modeling: a model study. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 14:407-428.
23. Goldewijk, K. K. 2001. Estimating global land use change over the past 300 years: the HYDE database. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 15(2):417-433.
24. Goodale, C. L., M. J. Apps, R. A. Birdsey, C. B. Field, L. S. Heath, R. A. Houghton, J. C. Jenkins, G. H. Kohlmaier, W. Kurz, S. R. Liu, G. J. Nabuurs, S. Nilsson, et al. 2002. Forest carbon sinks in the Northern Hemisphere. Ecological Applications 12(3):891-899.
25. Goulden, M. L., J. W. Munger, and S. M. Fan. 1996. Exchange of carbon dioxide by a deciduous forest: response to interannual variability. Science 271:1576-1578.
26. Grace, J., J. Lloyd, J. Mcintyre, A. C. Miranda, P. Meir, H. S. Miranda, C. Nobre, J. Moncrieff, J. Massheder, Y. Malhi, I. Wright, and J. Gash. 1995. Carbon dioxide uptake by an undisturbed tropical rain-forest in Southwest Amazonia, 1992-1993. Science 270:778-780.
27. Guariguata, M. R., R. L. Chazdon, J. S. Denslow, J. M. Dupuy, and L. Anderson. 1997. Structure and floristics of secondary and old-growth forest stands in lowland Costa Rica. Plant Ecology 132:107-120.
28. 2 sources and sinks using atmospheric transport models. Nature 415(6872):626-630.
29. Harding, D. J., M. A. Lefsky, G. G. Parker, and J. B. Blair. 2001. Laser altimeter canopy height profiles: methods and validation for closed-canopy, broadleaf forests. Remote Sensing of Environment 76:283-297.
30. Hartshorn, G. S., and B. E. Hammel. 1994. Vegetation types and floristic patterns. Pages 73-89 in L. A. McDade, K. S. Bawa, H. A. Hespenheide, and G. S. Hartshorn, editors. La Selva: ecology and natural history of a Neotropical rain forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
31. Hofton, M., L. Rocchio, J. B. Blair, and R. Dubayah. 2002. Validation of vegetation canopy lidar sub-canopy topography measurements for a dense tropical forest. Journal of Geodynamics 34:491-502.
32. Holdridge, L. R., W. C. Grenke, W. H. Hatheway, T. Liang, and J. J. A. Tosi. 1971. Forest environments in Tropical life zones: a pilot study. Pergamon Press, New York, New York, USA.
33. Houghton, R. A., K. T. Lawrence, J. L. Hackler, and S. Brown. 2001. The spatial distribution of forest biomass in the Brazilian Amazon: a comparison of estimates. Global Change Biology 7:731-746.
34. Hurtt, G. C., P. R. Moorcroft, S. W. Pacala, and S. A. Levin. 1998. Terrestrial models and global change: challenges for the future. Global Change Biology 4:581-590.
35. Hurtt, G. C., S. Pacala, P. Moorcroft, J. P. Caspersen, E. Shevliakova, R. A. Houghton, and B. Moore. 2002. Projecting the future of the US carbon sink. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 99(3):1389-1394.
36. Kasischke, E. S., J. M. Melack, and M. C. Dobson. 1997. The use of imaging radars for ecological applications: a review. Remote Sensing of Environment 59:141-156.
37. Lefsky, M. A., W. B. Cohen, S. A. Acker, G. G. Parker, T. A. Spies, and D. Harding. 1999a. Lidar remote sensing of the canopy structure and biophysical properties of Douglas-fir western hemlock forests. Remote Sensing of Environment 70:339-361.
38. Lefsky, M. A., W. B. Cohen, G. G. Parker, and D. J. Harding. 2002. Lidar remote sensing for ecosystem studies. BioScience 52:19-30.
39. Lefsky, M. A., W. B. Cohen, and T. A. Spies. 2001. An evaluation of alternate remote sensing products for forest inventory, monitoring, and mapping of Douglas-fir forests in western Oregon. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 31:78-87.
40. Lefsky, M. A., D. Harding, W. B. Cohen, G. Parker, and H. H. Shugart. 1999b. Surface lidar remote sensing of basal area and biomass in deciduous forests of eastern Maryland, USA. Remote Sensing of Environment 67:83-98.
41. Lucas, R. M., M. Honzak, P. J. Curran, G. M. Foody, R. Milne, T. Brown, and S. Amaral. 2000. Mapping the regional extent of tropical forest regeneration stages in the Brazilian legal Amazon using NOAA AVHRR data. International Journal of Remote Sensing 21(15):2855-2881.
42. Magnussen, S., P. Eggermont, and V. N. LaRiccia. 1999. Recovering tree heights from airborne laser scanner data. Forest Science 45:407-422.
43. Matlock, R. B., Jr., and G. S. Hartshorn. 1999. Organization for Tropical Studies: La Selva Biological Station. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 80:188-193.
44. McDade, L. A., K. S. Bawa, H. A. Hespenheide, and G. S. Hartshorn, editors. 1994. La Selva: ecology and natural history of a Neotropical rain forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
45. Means, J. E., S. A. Acker, D. J. Harding, J. B. Blair, M. A. Lefsky, W. B. Cohen, M. E. Harmon, and W. A. McKee. 1999. Use of large-footprint scanning airborne lidar to estimate forest stand characteristics in the western Cascades of Oregon. Remote Sensing of Environment 67:298-308.
46. Meeson, B. W., F. E. Corprew, J. M. P. McManus, D. M. Myers, J. W. Closs, K. J. Sun, D. J. Sunday, and P. J. Sellers. 1995. ISLSCP Initiative I: global datasets for land-atmosphere models, 1987-1988. Volumes 1-5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C., USA. [Available on CD-ROM.]
47. Melillo, J. M., A. D. McGuire, D. W. Kicklighter, B. Moore, III, C. J. Vörösmarty, and A. Schloss. 1993. Global climate change and terrestrial net primary production. Nature 363: 234-240.
48. Moorcroft, P. R., G. C. Hurtt, and S. W. Pacala. 2001. A method for scaling vegetation dynamics: the ecosystem demography model (ED). Ecological Monographs 71:557-585.
49. Myneni, R. B., J. Dong, C. L. Tucker, R. K. Kaufman, P. E. Kauppi, J. Liski, L. Zhou, V. Alexėyev, and M. K. Hughes. 2001. A large carbon sink in the woody biomass of Northern forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 98(26):14784-14789.
50. Myneni, R., R. R. Nemani, and S. W. Running. 1997. Algorithm for the estimation of global land cover, LAI and FPAR based on radiative transfer models. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 35:1380-1393.
51. Naesset, E. 1997. Determination of mean tree height of forest stands using airborne laser scanner data. International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 52:49-56.
52. Nelson, R., D. Kimes, W. A. Salas, and M. Routhier. 2000. Secondary forest age and tropical forest biomass estimation using thematic mapper imagery. BioScience 50:419-431.
53. Nelson, R., W. Krabill, and J. Tonelli. 1988. Estimating forest biomass and volume using airborne laser data. Remote Sensing of Environment 24:247-267.
54. Olson, J. S., J. A. Watts, and L. J. Allison. 1983. Carbon in live vegetation of major world ecosystems. DOE/NBB-0037. U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, D.C., USA.
55. Parker, G. G., M. A. Lefsky, and D. J. Harding. 2001. Light transmittance in forest canopies determined using airborne lidar altimetry and in-canopy quantum measurements. Remote Sensing of Environment 76:298-309.
56. Peterson, B. E. 2000. Recovery of forest canopy heights using large-footprint lidar. Thesis. Department of Geography, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
57. Phillips, O. L., Y. Malhi, N. Higuchi, W. F. Laurance, P. V. Nunez, R. M. Vasquez, S. G. Laurance, L. V. Ferreira, M. Stern, S. Brown, and J. Grace. 1998. Changes in the carbon balance of tropical forests: evidence from long-term plots. Science 282:439-444.
58. Pierce, S. 1992. La Selva Biological Station history: colonization/landuse/deforestation of Sarapiquý, Costa Rica. Thesis. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.
59. Post, W. M., W. R. Emmanuel, P. J. Zinke, and A. G. Stangenberger. 1982. Soil carbon pools and world life zones. Nature 298:156-159.
60. Potter, C. S., E. A. Davidson, S. A. Klooster, D. C. Nepstad, G. H. De Negreiros, and V. Brooks. 1998. Regional application of an ecosystem production model for studies of biogeochemistry in Brazilian Amazonia. Global Change Biology 4:315-333.
61. Ramankutty, N., and J. A. Foley. 1999. Estimating historical changes in global land cover: croplands from 1700 to 1992. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 13(4):997-1027.
62. Read, J. M., J. S. Denslow, and S. M. Guzman. 2001. Documenting land-cover history of a humid tropical environment in northeastern Costa Rica using time-series remotely sensed data. Pages 69-89 in A. C. Millington, S. J. Walsh, and P. E. Osborne, editors. GIS and remote sensing applications in biogeography and ecology. Kluwer, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
63. Rocchio, L. E. 2000. Lidar remote sensing of sub-canopy topography. Thesis. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
64. Saldarriaga, J. G., D. C. West, M. L. Tharp, and C. Uhl. 1988. Long-term chronosequence of forest succession in the upper Rio Negro of Colombia and Venezuela. Journal of Ecology 76:938-958.
65. Sanford, R. L., Jr., P. Paaby, J. C. Luvall, and E. Phillips. 1994. Climate, geomorphology and aquatic systems. Pages 106-119 in L. A. McDade, K. S. Bawa, H. A. Hespenheide, and G. S. Hartshorn, editors. La Selva: ecology and natural history of a Neotropical rain forest. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
66. Sellers, P. J., B. W. Meeson, J. Closs, J. Collatz, F. Corprew, D. Dazlich, F. G. Hall, Y. Kerr, R. Koster, S. Los, K. Mitchell, J. McManus, et al. 1995. An overview of the ISLSCP-1 global datasets. ISLSCP Initiative I: global datasets for land-atmosphere models, 1987-1988. Volumes 1-5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington. D.C., USA. [Available on CD-ROM.]
67. Shugart, H. H. 1984. A theory of forest dynamics: the ecological implications of forest succession models. Springer-Verlag, New York, New York, USA.
68. Shugart, H. H., and D. C. West. 1977. Development of an Appalachian deciduous forest succession model and its application to the assessment of the impact of the chestnut blight. Journal of Environmental Management 5:161-179.
69. Skole, D., and C. Tucker. 1993. Tropical deforestation and habitat fragmentation in the Amazon: satellite data from 1978 to 1988. Science 260:1905-1909.
70. Steininger, M. K. 2000. Satellite estimation of tropical secondary forest aboveground biomass: data from Brazil and Bolivia. International Journal of Remote Sensing 21:1139-1157.
71. Tian, H., J. Melillo, D. Kicklighter, A. D. McGuire, J. Helfrich, B. Moore, III, and C. Vörösmarty. 1999. Effect of interannual climate variability on carbon storage in Amazonian ecosystems. Nature 396:664-667.
72. 2 in a midlatitude forest. Science 260:1314-1317.
73. Zwally, H. J., B. Schutz, W. Abdalati, J. Abshire, C. Bentley, A. Brenner, J. Bufton, J. Dezio, D. Hancock, D. Harding, T. Herring, B. Minster, et al. 2002. ICESat's laser measurements of polar ice, atmosphere, ocean, and land. Journal of Geodynamics 34:405-445.