Quantifying the impact of forest management intensity and neighborhood diversity on individual tree shape and canopy space filling

森林培育干预措施的强度和所培育树种的特性是森林管理的两个基本工具。它们可用于在给定的环境条件和主要的经营目标下控制林木的生态和经济价值。通过影响树冠和树干的尺寸和形状，营林措施决定了不同种类物种的栖息地质量和数量。在过去，评估森林的三维空间结构是非常困难的。这是由于研究对象总体上难以接近、大小和复杂，特别是如果还要考虑冠层的话。因此，我们对营林管理强度或不同邻域差异引起的树木结构的明显变化的了解仍然很少，特别是当重点放在单一树木的属性上时，例如分枝模式或树冠变形。因此，建议的项目将使用从地面激光扫描获得的关于树木尺寸的独特空间信息来确定森林经营强度和树木邻域多样性对树冠形状、分枝格局和树冠空间填充的影响。将详细评估每棵树形成一个林分的3D谜题，以及在有叶和有叶的情况下。我们将侧重于导致树木(树冠和树干)变形的过程以及由此产生的空间占用模式，特别是在林分的树冠上。利用激光扫描数据可以量化相邻树种之间的竞争以及不同树种对树种间竞争强度的影响。此外，我们将能够使用一种新的方法来获得关于空间占用模式的定量信息，该方法基于表示不同大小的空间单位的立方体来评估高级别细节(Cm)的3D数据。我们还将测试生态位划分理论是否可以被证实，该理论预测物种丰富的温带森林的树冠空间填充比物种贫乏的林分更高。

The intensity of silvicultural interventions and the identity of the tree species that are cultivated are two basic tools of forest management. They can be used in order to control the ecological and economical value of a forest stand under given environmental conditions and the prevailing management objectives. By affecting the dimension and shape of tree crowns and stems, silvicultural measures determine habitat quality and quantity for species of various taxa. In the past it was very difficult to assess the three-dimensional spatial structure of a forest. This was due to the general inaccessibility, size and complexity of the study object, especially if the canopy layer is also to be considered. As a result, our knowledge on the distinct changes in tree architecture due to silvicultural management intensity or different neighborhood diversities is still small, especially if the focus is on single tree attributes, e.g. branching pattern or crown deformations. Thus, the suggested project will use unique spatial information on tree dimensions obtained from terrestrial laser scanning to determine the effect of forest management intensity and tree neighborhood diversity on crown shape, ramification pattern and canopy space filling. The 3D puzzle of individual trees forming a stand will be assessed in detail and for both leaf-on and leaf-off conditions. We will focus on the processes that lead to deformation of trees (crowns and stems) as well as the resulting pattern of space occupation, especially in the canopy of the stands. Competition by neighboring trees and the effects of different trees species on the competition strength enforced on a tree individual can be quantified using the laser scanning data. Furthermore, we will be able to derive quantitative information on space occupation pattern using a novel approach that evaluates the 3D data on a high level of detail (cm) based on cubes that represent spatial units of varying size. We will also test whether or not niche-partitioning theory which predicts higher canopy space filling of species-rich temperate forests compared to species-poor stands can be confirmed.