Weighing trees with lasers: new 3D insights

Date of Lecture: 18 October 2022 About the Lecture: How do you weigh a tree, let alone a forest? The recent increased focus on trees as tools in the fight against climate change, and the subsequent rush to see who can plant the most trees, assumes that we know how much carbon trees store (and how that can change). But do we? Our current understanding relies on very simplistic models and assumptions that are rarely if ever tested, in part due to the lack of detailed 3D measurements of trees. Mat will show how new 3D measurements of tree size and shape are challenging some of these assumptions, with major implications understanding how forests function. He will also show how these measurements are helping to address fundamental ecological questions about the size and shape of trees, how forests respond to environmental change, and how we can monitor forests more effectively from the ground, air and space. About the Speaker: Professor Mat Disney , Professor of Remote Sensing at UCL Department of Geography