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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 35(10)

A double-digitising method for building 3D virtual trees with non-planar leaves: application to the morphology and light-capture properties of young beech trees (Fagus sylvatica)

Jean-Christophe Chambelland A , Mathieu Dassot A , Boris Adam A , Nicolas Donès A , Philippe Balandier A B , André Marquier A , Marc Saudreau A D , Gabriela Sonohat A C and Hervé Sinoquet A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A UMR547 PIAF, INRA, UNIV BLAISE PASCAL, 234 Avenue du Brézet, F-63100 CLERMONT FERRAND, France.

B Cemagref, UR EFNO, Domaine des Barres, F-45290 Nogent-sur-Vernisson, France.

C ENITAC, Site de Marmilhat, BP35, F-63370 LEMPDES, France.

D Corresponding author. Email: saudreau@clemont.inra.fr

This paper originates from a presentation at the 5th International Workshop on Functional–Structural Plant Models, Napier, New Zealand, November 2007.

Functional Plant Biology 35(10) 1059-1069 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP08051
Submitted: 7 March 2008  Accepted: 24 July 2008   Published: 11 November 2008

Abstract

We developed a double-digitising method combining a hand-held electromagnetic digitizer and a non-contact 3D laser scanner. The former was used to record the positions of all leaves in a tree and the orientation angles of their lamina. The latter served to obtain the morphology of the leaves sampled in the tree. As the scanner outputs a cloud of points, software was developed to reconstruct non-planar (NP) leaves composed of triangles, and to compute numerical shape parameters: midrib curvature, torsion and transversal curvature of the lamina. The combination of both methods allowed construction of 3D virtual trees with NP leaves. The method was applied to young beech trees (Fagus sylvatica L.) from different sunlight environments (from 1 to 100% incident light) in a forest in central France. Leaf morphology responded to light availability, with a more bent shape in well-lit leaves. Light interception at the leaf scale by NP leaves decreased from 4 to 10% for shaded and sunlit leaves compared with planar leaves. At the tree scale, light interception by trees made of NP leaves decreased by 1 to 3% for 100% to 1% light, respectively.

Additional keywords: electromagnetic digitising, laser scanner, virtual plants.


Acknowledgements

This project was funded by INRA, program ECOGER ‘Bases écophysiologiques d’une gestion durable des forêts hétérogènes’ and project PREVOIR funded by the Conseil Régional d’Auvergne.


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