Diversity4Forests

To capture uniqueness of trees and to demonstrate how it could be used to improve wood tracking we will develop laser scanning-based methodologies and solutions that will be also beneficial for biodiversity mapping and monitoring. Based on the past development, we presume that what can be done for tree communities today with laser scanning, can be done at the national level within 10-15 years. Our investigations of structural and functional characteristics of trees and tree communities will lead to applications, technology transfer and dissemination actions including international tests in Belgium, Canada, China and Japan, demonstrations of wood tracking, and development of tools for monitoring forest biodiversity. Our research actions are built on new Measuring Spatiotemporal Changes in Forest Ecosystem (Scan4est) research infrastructure and are in the core of the Forest-Human-Machine Interplay Flagship of Science (UNITE).