A novel method to estimate effective PAI from Terrestrial LiDAR data

In this study, a novel method was proposed for estimation of effective plant area index (PAI) from Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) data. Integrating vertical and tilt scanning from Terrestrial laser scanner, discrete directional canopy gap fraction could be calculated and effective PAI could be estimated from canopy gap fraction. Finally, the effective PAI estimated from Terrestrial LiDAR are validated with effective PAI from TRAC. Results show effective PAI from Terrestrial LiDAR and TRAC have a certain relation, and the R² of regression relation of them is 0.5036. This experiment highlights the potential Terrestrial LiDAR for measuring forest structure parameters in plot and could be as a new tool for field measurements combining with traditional methods.