Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) was introduced for basic forest measurements, such as tree height and diameter, in the early 2000s. Recent advances in sensor and algorithm development have allowed us to assess in situ 3D forest structure explicitly and revolutionised the way we monitor and quantify ecosystem structure and function. Here, we provide an interdisciplinary focus to explore current developments in TLS to measure and monitor forest structure. We argue that TLS data will play a critical role in understanding fundamental ecological questions about tree size and shape, allometric scaling, metabolic function and plasticity of form. Furthermore, these new developments enable new applications such as radiative transfer modelling with realistic virtual forests, monitoring of urban forests and larger scale ecosystem monitoring through long-range scanning. Finally, we discuss upscaling of TLS data through data fusion with unmanned aerial vehicles, airborne and spaceborne data, as well as the essential role of TLS in validation of spaceborne missions that monitor ecosystem structure.

中文翻译：

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森林生态中的陆地激光扫描：扩展视野

2000 年代初，地面激光扫描 (TLS) 被引入用于基本森林测量，例如树高和直径。传感器和算法开发的最新进展使我们能够明确地评估原位 3D 森林结构，并彻底改变了我们监测和量化生态系统结构和功能的方式。在这里，我们提供了一个跨学科的重点来探索 TLS 的当前发展，以测量和监测森林结构。我们认为 TLS 数据将在理解有关树木大小和形状、异速生长、代谢功能和形式可塑性的基本生态问题方面发挥关键作用。此外，这些新的发展使新的应用成为可能，例如具有真实虚拟森林的辐射传输建模，通过远程扫描监测城市森林和更大规模的生态系统监测。最后，我们讨论了通过与无人机、机载和星载数据的数据融合来升级 TLS 数据，以及 TLS 在验证监测生态系统结构的星载任务中的重要作用。