by Shahir Shamsir
Written for FRIM conference as oral presentation. Co-authored with Cheong Siew Chin, Ong Chee Wei, Nor Azira Abu Bakar, Safiah Atan and Suzanna N.
In this paper, we present a proof of concept on the use of terrestrial LIDAR to conduct flora and fauna monitorig. In... more
In this paper, we present a proof of concept on the use of terrestrial LIDAR to conduct flora and fauna monitorig. In the first study, we utilised terrestrial LIDAR to conduct a population count of roosting bats where prior methodologies in censuring roosting bats involves direct roost count for single individuals or small clusters while larger clusters are estimated by multiplying of the smaller clusters. Visual counting methods includes emergence counts, dispersal counts and disturbance counts during daylight or crepuscular conditions, often with an optical-mechanical methods for species confirmation such as acoustic bat detector, infrared cameras, thermal images and radar systems. Using LIDAR, we generated millions of high resolution “point clouds” that created a 3D image of the bats and the cave thus producing a high resolution image of each bat without direct contact. We can spatially analyse the three dimensional distribution of bats populations as well as generate a 3D topological structure of the cave that the bats dwell in, thus providing a high resolution model of the cave and an accurate count of the bats and their roosting pattern. In the second study, we used terrestrial LIDAR to rapidly and remotely determine the diameter at breast height (DBH) of rubber trees. Conventional measuring method is time consuming and labour intensive as the DBH has to be measured by going to every single tree. The LIDAR scanned effectively measured the DBH of the trees in the scanning path, enabling high resolution measurements (2 mm), location and the topology of the landscape be captured for data analysis. The laser point clouds density was sufficient to extract information and the scanner easily deployable in the field. Repeated scans will allow temporal comparison of the growth of the rubber trees by overlapping the point clouds data. We have shown that terrestrial LIDAR is able to provide a novel methodology in biological studies and its deployability, accuracy and speed would make it a useful research tool in the future.
Download (.pdf) 
