Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru

Abstract Improving our ability to monitor fragmented tropical ecosystems is a critical step in supporting the stewardship of these complex landscapes. We investigated the structural characteristics of vegetation classes in Ucayali, Peru, employing a co‐production approach. The vegetation classes inc...

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Autores principales: Cooley, Savannah S, Pinto, Naiara, Becerra, Milagros, Alvarado, Jorge Washington Vela, Fahlen, Jocelyn C, Rivera Rivera, Ovidio, Fricker, G Andrew, Dantas, Augusto Rafael De Los Rios, Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa, Reygadas, Yunuen, Gan, Julie, Defries, Ruth, Menge, Duncan N L
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173741
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author Cooley, Savannah S
Pinto, Naiara
Becerra, Milagros
Alvarado, Jorge Washington Vela
Fahlen, Jocelyn C
Rivera Rivera, Ovidio
Fricker, G Andrew
Dantas, Augusto Rafael De Los Rios
Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa
Reygadas, Yunuen
Gan, Julie
Defries, Ruth
Menge, Duncan N L
author_browse Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa
Alvarado, Jorge Washington Vela
Becerra, Milagros
Cooley, Savannah S
Dantas, Augusto Rafael De Los Rios
Defries, Ruth
Fahlen, Jocelyn C
Fricker, G Andrew
Gan, Julie
Menge, Duncan N L
Pinto, Naiara
Reygadas, Yunuen
Rivera Rivera, Ovidio
author_facet Cooley, Savannah S
Pinto, Naiara
Becerra, Milagros
Alvarado, Jorge Washington Vela
Fahlen, Jocelyn C
Rivera Rivera, Ovidio
Fricker, G Andrew
Dantas, Augusto Rafael De Los Rios
Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa
Reygadas, Yunuen
Gan, Julie
Defries, Ruth
Menge, Duncan N L
author_sort Cooley, Savannah S
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Abstract Improving our ability to monitor fragmented tropical ecosystems is a critical step in supporting the stewardship of these complex landscapes. We investigated the structural characteristics of vegetation classes in Ucayali, Peru, employing a co‐production approach. The vegetation classes included three agricultural classes (mature oil palm, monocrop cacao, and agroforestry cacao plantations) and three forest regeneration classes (mature lowland forest, secondary lowland forest, and young lowland vegetation regrowth). We combined local knowledge with spaceborne lidar from NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation mission to classify vegetation and characterize the horizontal and vertical structure of each vegetation class. Mature lowland forest had consistently higher mean canopy height and lower canopy height variance than secondary lowland forest (μ = 29.40 m, sd = 6.89 m vs. μ = 20.82 m, sd = 9.15 m, respectively). The lower variance of mature forest could be attributed to the range of forest development ages in the secondary forest patches. However, secondary forests exhibited a similar vertical profile to mature forests, with each cumulative energy percentile increasing at similar rates. We also observed similar mean and standard deviations in relative height ratios (RH50/RH95) for mature forest, secondary forest, and oil palm even when removing the negative values from the relative height ratios and interpolating from above‐ground returns only (mean RH50/RH95 of 0.58, 0.54, and 0.53 for mature forest, secondary forest, and oil palm, respectively) ( p < .0001). This pattern differed from our original expectations based on local knowledge and existing tropical forest succession studies, pointing to opportunities for future work. Our findings suggest that lidar‐based relative height metrics can complement local information and other remote sensing approaches that rely on optical imagery, which are limited by extensive cloud cover in the tropics. We show that characterizing ecosystem structure with a co‐production approach can support addressing both the technical and social challenges of monitoring and managing fragmented tropical landscapes.
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spelling CGSpace1737412025-11-11T18:54:39Z Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru Cooley, Savannah S Pinto, Naiara Becerra, Milagros Alvarado, Jorge Washington Vela Fahlen, Jocelyn C Rivera Rivera, Ovidio Fricker, G Andrew Dantas, Augusto Rafael De Los Rios Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa Reygadas, Yunuen Gan, Julie Defries, Ruth Menge, Duncan N L forest ecology canopy Abstract Improving our ability to monitor fragmented tropical ecosystems is a critical step in supporting the stewardship of these complex landscapes. We investigated the structural characteristics of vegetation classes in Ucayali, Peru, employing a co‐production approach. The vegetation classes included three agricultural classes (mature oil palm, monocrop cacao, and agroforestry cacao plantations) and three forest regeneration classes (mature lowland forest, secondary lowland forest, and young lowland vegetation regrowth). We combined local knowledge with spaceborne lidar from NASA's Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation mission to classify vegetation and characterize the horizontal and vertical structure of each vegetation class. Mature lowland forest had consistently higher mean canopy height and lower canopy height variance than secondary lowland forest (μ = 29.40 m, sd = 6.89 m vs. μ = 20.82 m, sd = 9.15 m, respectively). The lower variance of mature forest could be attributed to the range of forest development ages in the secondary forest patches. However, secondary forests exhibited a similar vertical profile to mature forests, with each cumulative energy percentile increasing at similar rates. We also observed similar mean and standard deviations in relative height ratios (RH50/RH95) for mature forest, secondary forest, and oil palm even when removing the negative values from the relative height ratios and interpolating from above‐ground returns only (mean RH50/RH95 of 0.58, 0.54, and 0.53 for mature forest, secondary forest, and oil palm, respectively) ( p < .0001). This pattern differed from our original expectations based on local knowledge and existing tropical forest succession studies, pointing to opportunities for future work. Our findings suggest that lidar‐based relative height metrics can complement local information and other remote sensing approaches that rely on optical imagery, which are limited by extensive cloud cover in the tropics. We show that characterizing ecosystem structure with a co‐production approach can support addressing both the technical and social challenges of monitoring and managing fragmented tropical landscapes. 2024-08 2025-03-20T06:56:25Z 2025-03-20T06:56:25Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173741 en Open Access application/pdf Wiley Cooley, S.S.; Pinto, N.; Becerra, M.; Alvarado, J.W.V.; Fahlen, J.C.; Rivera Rivera, O.; Fricker, G.A.; Dantas, A.R.D.L.R.; Aguilar-Amuchastegui, N.; Reygadas, Y.; Gan, J.; Defries, R.; Menge, D.N.L.. (2024) Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru. Ecology and Evolution 14(8): e70116. ISSN: 2045-7758
spellingShingle forest ecology
canopy
Cooley, Savannah S
Pinto, Naiara
Becerra, Milagros
Alvarado, Jorge Washington Vela
Fahlen, Jocelyn C
Rivera Rivera, Ovidio
Fricker, G Andrew
Dantas, Augusto Rafael De Los Rios
Aguilar-Amuchastegui, Naikoa
Reygadas, Yunuen
Gan, Julie
Defries, Ruth
Menge, Duncan N L
Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru
title Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru
title_full Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru
title_fullStr Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru
title_full_unstemmed Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru
title_short Combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics Investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes: A case study in the forest–agriculture interface of Ucayali, Peru
title_sort combining spaceborne lidar from the global ecosystem dynamics investigation with local knowledge for monitoring fragmented tropical landscapes a case study in the forest agriculture interface of ucayali peru
topic forest ecology
canopy
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173741
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