Lidar integrated airborne imaging spectroscopy for root disease detection and measurement of foliar chemistry

Root disease is a serious concern for the softwood timber industry. This paper reports on the development of a root disease detection procedure that applies lidar integrated with imaging spectrometer data. Chlorophyll-a was found to be significantly affected by the disease in a needle level study[I]. Chlorophyll-a was estimated from canopy reflectance through partial least squares regression and achieved an R² value of 0.82. Continuum removal metrics, which proved to be good estimators at the needle level where found to be insufficient at the canopy level. Through the union of decreased stand density and decreased foliar chlorophyll, potential disease sites were identified in the Greater Victoria Watershed District test site.