Title:	A comparison of tools for remotely estimating leaf area index in loblolly pine plantations
Author(s):	Dewey, Janet C.; Roberts, Scott D.; Hartley, Isobel
Date:	2006
Source:	Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-92. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 71-75
Description:	Light interception is critical to forest growth and is largely determined by foliage area per unit ground, the measure of which is leaf area index (LAI). Summer and winter LAI estimates were obtained in a 17-year-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) spacing trial in Mississippi, using three replications with initial spacings of 1.5, 2.4, and 3.0 m. Direct estimates of summer LAI were made in August of 2001 using allometric methods. Monthly litter trap collections were used to determine the change in LAI between August and January; winter LAI was derived by subtraction from summer values. Indirect estimates of LAI were made using a LI-COR LAI-2000 Plant Canopy Analyzer (PCA) and hemispherical photography in conjunction with Delta-T HemiView 2.1 software. As remote estimators of LAI, both the PCA and hemispherical photographs underestimated summer maximum LAI, and neither tool appeared to be sensitive to seasonal change in LAI.
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