Characterising Reedbed habitat quality using Leaf-off LiDAR Data

The aim of this paper was to investigate the potential of using leaf-off LiDAR data to characterise the quality of reedbed habitats in Leighton moss, North west UK. The correlation between LiDAR derived and ground-measured heights were determined using six selected spatial buffers and the most significant selected. The results indicated that accurate estimates of canopy height were derivable from the first return data, a valuable indicator of reedbed habitat quality. However, the lack of any subsequent returns from reedbeds prevented the extraction of any further biophysical variables. This paper outlines the methodology of deriving suitable height estimates of reeds and the limitations of using leaf-off LiDAR data.