3D lidar imaging for detecting and understanding plant responses and canopy structure

Understanding and diagnosing plant responses to stress will benefit greatly from three-dimensional (3D) measurement and analysis of plant properties because plant responses are strongly related to their 3D structures. Light detection and ranging (lidar) has recently emerged as a powerful tool for direct 3D measurement of plant structure. Here the use of 3D lidar imaging to estimate plant properties such as canopy height, canopy structure, carbon stock, and species is demonstrated, and plant growth and shape responses are assessed by reviewing the development of lidar systems and their applications from the leaf level to canopy remote sensing. In addition, the recent creation of accurate 3D lidar images combined with natural colour, chlorophyll fluorescence, photochemical reflectance index, and leaf temperature images is demonstrated, thereby providing information on responses of pigments, photosynthesis, transpiration, stomatal opening, and shape to environmental stresses; these data can be integrated with 3D images of the plants using computer graphics techniques. Future lidar applications that provide more accurate dynamic estimation of various plant properties should improve our understanding of plant responses to stress and of interactions between plants and their environment. Moreover, combining 3D lidar with other passive and active imaging techniques will potentially improve the accuracy of airborne and satellite remote sensing, and make it possible to analyse 3D information on ecophysiological responses and levels of various substances in agricultural and ecological applications and in observations of the global biosphere.