Assessing habitats and organism-habitat relationships by airborne laser scanning

Three-dimensional structure is a fundamental physical element of habitat. Because of the well-recognised link between vegetation structure and organism-habitat associations, many published studies that make use of airborne LiDAR for forest applications have results of potential relevance for habitat assessment. This chapter reviews those published studies that have made direct use of airborne LiDAR data for habitat assessment of individual species or groups of species in a woodland or forest context. This is followed by a case study of the authors’ own work at a study site in eastern England, Monks Wood National Nature Reserve. We conclude that airborne LiDAR has the capability for supplying a range of forest structural measures that are key elements of an organism’s habitat at the meso-scale. Examined in combination with detailed field ecology data on species distributions, abundances or biological activity, airborne LiDAR data can be used as an exploratory tool to advance ecological understanding by quantifying how forest structure impacts habitat use and thereby influences habitat quality.