Abstract
Airborne laser scanning (ALS) has the potential to provide information for habitat analysis that is currently impossible to obtain for large areas, for example, small trees and shrubs as well as ground properties and dead wood in forests. Habitat analysis using ALS data has this far not utilized the detailed 3D structure. This project will derive information for habitat analysis with 3D methods to obtain more details than what is currently possible. The information will be combined with field observations of forest-dwelling birds and saproxylic beetles to improve the understanding of their habitat needs and enable habitat analysis for large areas. This includes advanced methodological development to predict quantity and quality of plant communities in the field and shrub layers of forests, micro-topography of forests, for example, fine-grained and wet soils, boulders and ditches, and location and amount of dead wood. Methods providing high accuracy will be combined with habitat data for specialized forest-dwelling birds and beetles to produce habitat suitability information. This will improve the understanding of the habitat needs of the studied species and can also be applied to large areas to enable more accurate habitat analysis. The outcome of the research will be useful for management of forest areas at a regional level to comply with the Swedish national environment goals, in particular Sustainable forests and A Rich Diversity of Plant and Animal Life.
Sweden