Terrestrial Laser Scans of Individual Trees for Biomass Estimation in Rushworth Forest

Terrestrial laser scans were acquired in 2012 from two 40-meter radius plots in Rushworth Forest, Victoria, Australia. The data includes individual tree point clouds and cylinder models for species Eucalyptus leucoxylon, Eucalyptus microcarpa, and Eucalyptus tricarpa. Above-ground biomass estimates derived from the point cloud data were compared with destructive sampling results, as detailed in publications from 2014.

Use Cases

• Validate allometric equations for biomass based on terrestrial laser scanning-derived tree volumes.
• Develop quantitative structure models for tree volume estimation from point cloud data.
• Compare above-ground biomass estimates from destructive sampling with those from non-destructive scanning methods.

Strengths

• Data includes two distinct 40-meter radius forest plots (RUSH06 and RUSH07).
• Above-ground biomass estimates are validated against destructive sampling, providing a ground-truth benchmark.
• Point cloud data is processed into individual tree models for three main Eucalyptus species.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified; last metadata update was 2026-06-10.

Provenance

Source

Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network's Data Discovery

Collection Method

Terrestrial laser scanning with a Riegl VZ400 scanner, followed by individual tree extraction and quantitative structure modeling.

Time Range

2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-10 19:09:10.535362

Geography

Rushworth Forest, Victoria, Australia