Publications 2010 – 2019 – Forest Ecology and Conservation Group

Topography shapes the structure, composition and function of tropical forest landscapes

Topography is a key driver of tropical forest structure and composition, as it constrains local nutrient and hydraulic conditions within which trees grow. Yet, we do not fully understand how changes in forest physiognomy driven by topography impact other emergent properties of forests, such as their aboveground carbon density (ACD). Working in Borneo – at…
Blind image fusion for hyperspectral imaging with the directional total variation

Hyperspectral imaging is a cutting-edge type of remote sensing used for mapping vegetation properties, rock minerals and other materials. A major drawback of hyperspectral imaging devices is their intrinsic low spatial resolution. In this paper, we propose a method for increasing the spatial resolution of a hyperspectral image by fusing it with an image of…
Airborne laser scanning of natural forests in New Zealand reveals the influences of wind on forest carbon

Forests are a key component of the global carbon cycle, and research is needed into the effects of human-driven and natural processes on their carbon pools. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) produces detailed 3D maps of forest canopy structure from which aboveground carbon density can be estimated. Working with a ALS dataset collected over the 8049-km2 Wellington…
Enhancing of accuracy assessment for forest above-ground biomass estimates obtained from remote sensing via hypothesis testing and overfitting evaluation

The evaluation of accuracy is essential for assuring the reliability of ecological models. Usually, the accuracy of above-ground biomass (AGB) predictions obtained from remote sensing is assessed by the mean differences (MD), the root mean squared differences (RMSD), and the coefficient of determination (R2) between observed and predicted values. In this article we propose a…
Denial of long-term issues with agriculture on tropical peatlands will have devastating consequences

A letter denouncing the practice of ignoring the issues agriculture on tropical peatlands will cause in the future. WIJEDASA et al. 2017 PDF
Nitrous oxide emissions from sugarcane fields in the Brazilian Cerrado

We quantified N2O fluxes from a sugarcane experiment in the Brazilian Cerrado over an entire year, comparing the magnitude of response to different fertilizer treatments: mineral nitrogen (N), a liquid residue from bioethanol distillation known as vinasse (V) and a combination of both (NV), on irrigated and nonirrigated plots. Silva et al. 2017 PDF
Forest soils in France are sequestering substantial amounts of carbon

The aim of this study was to assess whether French forest soils are sources or sinks of carbon and to quantify changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks over time by resampling soil in long-term forest monitoring plots. Jonard, M.; Nicolas, M.; Coomes, D.A.; Caignet, I.; Saenger, A.; Ponette, Q. 2017 PDF
A graph cut approach to 3D tree delineation, using integrated airborne LiDAR and hyperspectral imagery

We develop a 3D tree delineation method which uses graph cut to delineate trees from the full 3D LiDAR point cloud, and also makes use of any optical imagery available (hyper-spectral imagery in our case). Lee, J.; Coomes, D.A.; Schönlieb, C.; Cai, X.; Lellmann, J.; Dalponte, M.; Malhi, Y.; Butt, N.; Morecroft, M. 2017 PDF
Area-based vs tree-centric approaches to mapping forest carbon in Southeast Asian forests from airborne laser scanning data

This paper compares area-based and tree-centric models for estimating ACD in lowland old-growth forests in Sabah, Malaysia. These forests are challenging to map because of their immense height. Coomes et al. 2017 PDF