In:
Biogeosciences, Copernicus GmbH, Vol. 15, No. 12 ( 2018-06-22), p. 3811-3830
Abstract:
Abstract. Borneo contains some of the world's most biodiverse and carbon-dense tropical
forest, but this 750 000 km2 island has lost 62 % of its
old-growth forests within the last 40 years. Efforts to protect and restore
the remaining forests of Borneo hinge on recognizing the ecosystem services
they provide, including their ability to store and sequester carbon. Airborne
laser scanning (ALS) is a remote sensing technology that allows forest
structural properties to be captured in great detail across vast geographic
areas. In recent years ALS has been integrated into statewide assessments of
forest carbon in Neotropical and African regions, but not yet in Asia. For
this to happen new regional models need to be developed for estimating carbon
stocks from ALS in tropical Asia, as the forests of this region are
structurally and compositionally distinct from those found elsewhere in the
tropics. By combining ALS imagery with data from 173 permanent forest plots
spanning the lowland rainforests of Sabah on the island of Borneo, we
develop a simple yet general model for estimating forest carbon stocks using
ALS-derived canopy height and canopy cover as input metrics. An advanced
feature of this new model is the propagation of uncertainty in both ALS- and
ground-based data, allowing uncertainty in hectare-scale estimates of carbon
stocks to be quantified robustly. We show that the model effectively captures
variation in aboveground carbon stocks across extreme disturbance gradients
spanning tall dipterocarp forests and heavily logged regions and clearly
outperforms existing ALS-based models calibrated for the tropics, as well as
currently available satellite-derived products. Our model provides a simple,
generalized and effective approach for mapping forest carbon stocks in
Borneo and underpins ongoing efforts to safeguard and facilitate the
restoration of its unique tropical forests.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1726-4189
DOI:
10.5194/bg-15-3811-2018
DOI:
10.5194/bg-15-3811-2018-supplement
Language:
English
Publisher:
Copernicus GmbH
Publication Date:
2018
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2158181-2
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