| content | The spatiotemporal variability of forest microclimate defines habitat quality for several forest-dwelling plant and animal species and drives ecosystem functions, such as productivity, evapo-transpiration or decomposition. At the same time, forest microclimate is closely linked to forest structure, which in turn is actively controlled by thinning and harvesting measures.
The project will complement existing datasets on three-dimensional forest structure (terrestrial laser scanning in 2014 and 2019) by a reassessment of all 150 permanent experimental plots (EPs) of the Biodiversity Exploratories using terrestrial laser scanning. First, we will use measures of 3D forest structure that will be derived from the laser scans, to investigate changes in structural complexity in relation to management intensity and tree species composition. Using long-term data sets describing microclimatic conditions on the EPs, we will then investigate how manage-ment-induced dynamics of three-dimensional forest structure affect the spatial and temporal var-iability of forest microclimates.
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