1. Combining spaceborne lidar from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru
- Author
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Savannah S. Cooley, Naiara Pinto, Milagros Becerra, Jorge Washington Vela Alvarado, Jocelyn C. Fahlen, Ovidio Rivera, G. Andrew Fricker, Augusto Rafael De Los Ríos Dantas, Naikoa Aguilar‐Amuchastegui, Yunuen Reygadas, Julie Gan, Ruth DeFries, and Duncan N. L. Menge
- Subjects
co‐production ,ecological succession ,forest structure ,local knowledge ,spaceborne lidar ,tropical lowland forest ,Ecology ,QH540-549.5 - Abstract
Abstract Improving our ability to monitor fragmented tropical ecosystems is a critical step in supporting the stewardship of these complex landscapes. We investigated the structural characteristics of vegetation classes in Ucayali, Peru, employing a co‐production approach. The vegetation classes included three agricultural classes (mature oil palm, monocrop cacao, and agroforestry cacao plantations) and three forest regeneration classes (mature lowland forest, secondary lowland forest, and young lowland vegetation regrowth). We combined local knowledge with spaceborne lidar from NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation mission to classify vegetation and characterize the horizontal and vertical structure of each vegetation class. Mature lowland forest had consistently higher mean canopy height and lower canopy height variance than secondary lowland forest (μ = 29.40 m, sd = 6.89 m vs. μ = 20.82 m, sd = 9.15 m, respectively). The lower variance of mature forest could be attributed to the range of forest development ages in the secondary forest patches. However, secondary forests exhibited a similar vertical profile to mature forests, with each cumulative energy percentile increasing at similar rates. We also observed similar mean and standard deviations in relative height ratios (RH50/RH95) for mature forest, secondary forest, and oil palm even when removing the negative values from the relative height ratios and interpolating from above‐ground returns only (mean RH50/RH95 of 0.58, 0.54, and 0.53 for mature forest, secondary forest, and oil palm, respectively) (p
- Published
- 2024
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