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Climate change and increasing human activities are impacting ecosystems and their biodiversity. Quantitative measurements of essential biodiversity variables(EBV) and essential climate variables are used to monitor biodiversity and car-bon dynamics and evaluate policy and management interventions. Ecosystem structure is at the core of EBVs and carbon stock estimation and can help to inform assessments of species and species diversity. Ecosystem structure is also used as an indirect indicator of habitat quality and expected species richness or species community composition. Space borne measurements can provide large-scale insight into monitoring the structural dynamics of ecosystems, but they generally lack consistent, robust, timely and detailed information regarding their full three-dimensional vegetation structure at local scales. Here we demonstrate the potential of high-frequency ground-based laser scanning to systematically monitor structural changes in vegetation. We present a proof of concept high-temporal ecosystem structure time series of 5 years in a temperate forest using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). We also present data from automated high-temporal laser scanning that can allow up scaling of vegetation structure scanning, overcoming the limitations of a typically opportunistic TLS measurement approach. Automated monitoring will be a critical component to build a network of field monitoring sites that can provide the required calibration data for satellite missions to effectively monitor the structural dynamics of vegetation over large areas. Within this perspective, we reflect on how this network could be designed and discuss implementation pathways.

This dataset was described and used for the analysis of the following publication: StrucNet: A global network for automated vegetation structure monitoring. Brede, B., Newnham, G., Culvenor, D., Armston, J., Bartholomeus, H., Griebel, A., Hayward, J., Junttila, S., Lau, A., Levick, S., Morrone, R., Origo, N., Pfeifer, M., Verbesselt, J. & Herold, M. Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation (accepted) Any use of this dataset should cite the paper above (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License). Contact: kim.calders@ugent.be ================================================ Dataset ================================================ 1) TLS vertical plant profiles Dassenbos. Five-year dynamics of forest structure for the four sampling locations in Dassenbos. Data were collected using the same measurement protocol and data analysis using https://www.pylidar.org/ as described in Calders et al. (2015) using a zenith range of 35-70 degrees for 184-186 (some scans were discarded for quality purposes) measurement days during the period from February 2014 to November 2018. The data repository contains the vertical plant profiles and plotting code (Fig 1 in paper) 2) One-year dynamics of vegetation structure for a tropical savanna site in Northern Australia (Fig 2 in paper) and Wytham Woods (Fig 3 in paper). The data repository contains the vertical plant profiles derived from LEAF data and plotting code.