Weighing trees with lasers: new 3D insights from tropical forests to urban churchyards
In this Lunch Hour Lecture, Mat will show how new 3D measurements of tree size and shape are challenging some of the assumptions about how much carbon trees store, with major implications understanding how forests function.
Weighing trees with lasers: new 3D insights from tropical forests to urban churchyards
18 Oct 2022, 13:00 – 14:00
Book your place
About the Lecture:
How do you weigh a tree, let alone a forest? The recent increased focus on trees as tools in the fight against climate change, and the subsequent rush to see who can plant the most trees, assumes that we know how much carbon trees store (and how that can change). But do we? Our current understanding relies on very simplistic models and assumptions that are rarely if ever tested, in part due to the lack of detailed 3D measurements of trees. Mat will show how new 3D measurements of tree size and shape are challenging some of these assumptions, with major implications understanding how forests function. He will also show how these measurements are helping to address fundamental ecological questions about the size and shape of trees, how forests respond to environmental change, and how we can monitor forests more effectively from the ground, air and space.
This Autumn, we bring you a Lunch Hour Lecture Series to showcase how UCL research transforms lives
Professor Mat Disney
Professor of Remote Sensing
UCL Department of Geography
Mat Disney is Professor of Remote Sensing UCL Geography. He has interests in how new measurements from ground and space can explore why trees and forests look the way they do, in particular how much carbon trees and forests can store, and how this changing with climate and other disturbance. He has been at the forefront of making new, highly-detailed 3D measurements of tree structure to provide new insights into how we see trees, and how we upscale these insights. Prof Disney has worked in a wide range of ecosystems, including tropical, temperate forests and urban forests.
Further information
Ticketing
Ticketed and Pre-booking essential
Cost
Free
Open to
All
Availability
Yes
