Advanced Applications of UAV Remote Sensing in Forest Structure

Dear Colleagues,

Forest structure is essential for forest management and ecosystem dynamics research. Many forest structure parameters, such as diameter at breast height (DBH) and total tree height, are the most important tree or stand characteristics and can be directly measured on the ground. They are indicators of tree vigor and used to describe stand structure, estimate tree volume and biomass, and select sample trees in forest inventory. However, collecting forest structure parameters, e.g., DBH data at a large scale, can be costly and time consuming. Substantial research has thus been conducted to advance the methods for obtaining DBH values at the individual tree or stand levels through development and use of estimation models based on satellite or airborne remote sensing technologies. Especially, with the emergence and advancement of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) remote sensing technology over the past decade, automated individual tree detection and crown delineation using high spatial resolution data provides good opportunities for estimation of forest structure parameters at a large scale. We encourage studies from all fields, including experimental studies, monitoring approaches and models, to contribute to this Special Issue in order to promote knowledge and adaptation strategies for the forest inventory, management, health protection, dynamic monitoring, carbon sequestration, and future development of forest ecosystems.

Prof. Dr. Liyong Fu
Dr. Qingwang Liu
Prof. Dr. Hua Sun
Dr. Qiao Chen
Guest Editors

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