| In high biodiversity areas, such as the Amazon, forest inventory is a challenge due to large variations in vegetation structure and inaccessibility. Capturing the full gradient of variability requires the acquisition of a large number of sample plots. Pre-stratified inventory is an efficient strategy that reduces sampling effort and cost. Low-cost remote sensing techniques may significantly expand pre-stratification capacity; however, the simplest option, satellite optical imagery, cannot detect small variations in primary forests. Alternatively, three-dimensional information obtained from airborne laser scanning (ALS, a.k.a. airborne lidar) has been successfully used to estimate structural parameters in tropical forests. Our objective was to assess to... |
