Monitoring forest seedlings growth environment using 3D laser scanner

Seedling development is an important factor in the regeneration of forests after disturbance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the amount of leaf litter related to seedling emergence and development using a 3-D laser scanner. The amount of leaf litter can affect seedling emergences by physical inhibition of their emergences, changes in the sub-surface soil, and the spread of diseases. Since it takes a lot of labor and cost to obtain the amount of seedlings and leaf litter, we wanted to improve the efficiency by using a 3D laser scanner. There was a positive correlation between the amount of seedling quantity derived from the laser data and the total seedling height measured by the field survey. There was a positive relationship between the amount of leaf litter estimated from the laser data before and after defoliation and the amount of leaf litter collected from the field survey.