Canopy gaps and the processes that generate them play an integral role in shaping the structure and dynamics of forests. However, it is only with recent advances in remote sensing technologies such as airborne laser scanning that studying canopy gaps at scale has become a reality. Consequently, we still lack an understanding of how the size distribution and spatial organization of canopy gaps varies among forests ecosystems, nor have we determined whether these emergent properties can be reconciled with existing theories of forest dynamics. Here, I outline a roadmap for integrating remote sensing with field data and individual-based models to build a comprehensive picture of how environmental constraints and disturbance regimes shape the three-dimensional structure of the world’s forests.

中文翻译：

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破译世界森林三维结构的扰动指纹

树冠间隙及其产生过程在塑造森林结构和动态方面发挥着不可或缺的作用。然而，只有随着航空激光扫描等遥感技术的最新进展，大规模研究冠层间隙才成为现实。因此，我们仍然缺乏对森林生态系统之间冠层间隙的大小分布和空间组织如何变化的理解，我们也没有确定这些新兴特性是否可以与现有的森林动力学理论相协调。在这里，我概述了将遥感与实地数据和基于个体的模型相结合的路线图，以全面了解环境约束和干扰机制如何塑造世界森林的三维结构。