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Assessing differences in tree and stand structure following beetle infestation using lidar data

The current mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) infestation in British Columbia is the largest in recorded history and has caused unprecedented damage to the lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. var. latifolia Engelm.) forests of the interior of the province. During the early years after attack, changes to overall crown structure are relatively minor due to low needle loss; within several years, however, needle loss can be substantial, even at the stand level. Needle loss can affect snow hydrology due to the role of the canopy in interception and accumulation and its impacts on radiation transmission, wind speed, and the overall snowmelt energy balance. In addition, the infestation is impacting other forest attributes such as wildlife habitat, forest fire risk and behaviour, and biogeochemistry. In this paper we investigate variations in light detection and ranging (lidar) return hit densities and distributions, analyzed with high spatial resolution digital camera imagery, in response to changes in forest cover and structure due to beetle infestation at both the individual tree level and the stand level. Results indicate that the density of lidar returns from tree crowns is impacted by the later health status of the tree, with a larger number of returns from green and early attack phases and a significantly smaller number of returns from grey-attack crowns. At the stand level, there are a number of significant relationships between plot-level indicators of infestation and lidar-derived structural metrics, in particular with vegetation cover (r2  = 0.76, p < 0.001). The total number and vertical distribution of returns from vegetation in green, red-attacked, and grey-attacked pine stands were distinct. We conclude that the potential to combine the structure information derived from lidar technology with assessment of heath status from aerial imagery provides unique quantitative data that may be used to map lodgepole pine stands according to structural attributes relevant to both silviculturalists and hydrologists.