Forest Habitability for Wildlife as Evaluated by Airborne Laser Profiling(<Special Issue>Silvilaser)

Abstract

With an objective of evaluating forest habitability for wildlife in terms of forest structure, wildlife abundance was observed using automated infrared sensor cameras while forest structure of the habitat was quanhied with airborne laser profiling in three study areas of 400ha each set up around Mt. Ishizuchi-san, Mt. Myoujin-ga-mori, and Mt. Takanawa-san in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. Two pararneters derived from airborne laser profiling, Le. mean and standard deviation of standing timber stock in each study area, were used as structural indexes of forests, while the richness of fauna was quantified as the number ef inhabitant species and their frequency ef being captured by the automated camera.Of the four possible combinations of the forest and faunal parameters, enly the one between the photographic capture frequency and $tandard deviation oi standing timber stock revealed streng negative cerrelatlon. Thus it was reasoned that the variability in timber stock has resulted from altitucle variability within a given stucly area which tends to be more proneunced in higher and more remete areas, leading to a conclusion that what is really correlated with wildlife abundance is the proximity to the human domain.Keywoftts: forest habitability for wildlife,airborne laser profiling, standing timber volume, infrared sensor camera