Forest Research have now provided us with the results of their analysis of the OneOak tree’s leaf area.
After taking the spectacular images of the tree canopy with the hemispherical camera lens (see post of September 18th), they used special software to calculate how much of the sky was visible underneath the tree.
Leaf Area Index analysis software
Leaf Area Index or LAI is the ratio of total upper leaf surface of vegetation divided by the surface area of the land on which the vegetation grows read more. Forest Research calculated that the LAI for OneOak was 1.4.
LAI values can range from 0 (no cover) to 6 (dense forest cover). Apparently our result of 1.4 is quite low for a mature broadleaved woodland. Scientists will now use this value in future calculations of the tree’s biomass.
