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Remote Sensing of Forests Over Time

Change Types, Methods, and Opportunities

  • Chapter
Remote Sensing of Forest Environments

Abstract

Forest change happens constantly at different spatial scales. At the individual tree level, the biochemical and biophysical properties may vary according to environmental conditions; physical appearance such as colour and size may change due to phenology or human disturbance. At the stand level, the structure of forest canopies may change in terms of horizontal measures of canopy closure and gap size and shape and vertical measures of number of layers of understorey, height of each storey, etc. At the watershed level, forest ecosystem change can be evaluated by different landscape measurements such as fragmentation indices, matrix and corridor structure and system complexity. Changes at even larger scales are usually caused by human-induced environmental changes and climate changes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Assessment and Monitoring of Forest and Environmental Resources, University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720-3110, USA

    Peng Gong & Bing Xu

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  1. Peng Gong
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  2. Bing Xu
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Canadian Forest Service (Pacific Forestry Centre), Natural Resources Canada, V8Z 1M5, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

    Michael A. Wulder

  2. Department of Geography, University of Calgary, T2N 1N4, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Steven E. Franklin

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Gong, P., Xu, B. (2003). Remote Sensing of Forests Over Time. In: Wulder, M.A., Franklin, S.E. (eds) Remote Sensing of Forest Environments. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0306-4_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0306-4_11

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