Characterising forest structure is an essential part of any comprehensive biodiversity assessment.
In this study, the robustness of a previously proposed LiDAR based scheme for characterising
the ecological structure of a dry Eucalypt forest landscape was examined by comparing two
LiDAR datasets of the same area. This was validated using a network of field sites that recorded
commonly used metrics of biodiversity. The eight category scheme, derived from LiDAR point
density, proved resilient when recovering the openings above the ground and medium
vegetation, canopy cover, and presence of mid-storey vegetation and high trees, however less so
when recovering the opening above low vegetation, presence of understorey vegetation and
vertical canopy density of high trees. These last categories were considered to be affected by the
difference in the pulse repetition rate. Obtaining sufficient multiple returns by setting proper
pulse repetition rate is the key to maintaining good performance of the scheme.
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