Light regimes in Populus plantations using Voxel-based Light Interception

Abstract

Three-dimensional light interception by three uniform Populus canopies was studied using the Voxel-based Light Interception Model (VLIM) in combination with ground-based Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) measurements. As the VLIM was developed and validated in a virtual environment to ensure reference data availability, the objective was to test the consistency of the measurement and analysis protocol in real forest canopies. An automated pre-processing of raw LiDAR scans delivered high quality structure information, which was imported into a ray-tracing algorithm for modelling of light/canopy interactions. The low within-plot variability (mean standard deviation <6%) and significant differences between light interceptions modelled for the separate forest stands demonstrated the capacity of the procedure to repeatedly reproduce detailed representations of canopy/light interactions.