Jonathan, Emily Wroblewski, (Department of Anthropology) and Krista Milich (Department of Anthropology) were awarded a seed grant from the WashU Geospatial Research Initiative titled “Using 3D Forest Models generated from LiDAR to investigate how human activities and climatic events impact forest structure and biodiversity”. A big thanks for Emily for leading this project!
Project Abstract: Forests provide valuable ecosystem services upon which people and wildlife depend. Because human-associated disturbances are increasingly impacting forests, we must act now to understand how forests respond to environmental change and disruption. Of particular importance is understanding how such disturbances impact forest ecology, how forest structure changes as they grow and regenerate, and how those changes affect plant and animal diversity. However, traditional quantification of forest structure was restricted to coarse characterizations, missing the complex 3D variation within forests. Therefore, we will conduct laser-based LiDAR drone surveys in two forested habitats – Vohibe Forest, Madagascar, and Tyson Research Center, USA – under varied human use and disturbance regimes to generate 3D forest models from which structural variation will be associated with variation in plant and animal biodiversity. This research will enable the design of better conservation and restoration targets for forests, the biodiversity they contain, and the services they provide.