LiDAR reveals a preference for intermediate visibility by a forest-dwelling ungulate species: Deer locational data

Visibility (viewshed) plays a significant and diverse role in animals’ behavior and fitness. Understanding how visibility influences animal behavior requires the measurement of habitat visibility at spatial scales commensurate to individual animal choices. However, measuring habitat visibility at a fine spatial scale over a landscape is a challenge, particularly in highly heterogeneous landscapes (e.g., forests). As a result, our ability to model the influence of fine-scale visibility on animal behavior has been impeded or limited. In this study, we demonstrate the application of the concept of 3D cumulative viewshed in the study of animal spatial behavior at a landscape level. Specifically, we employed a newly described approach that combines terrestrial and airborne LiDAR to measure fine-scale habitat visibility (3D cumulative viewshed) on a continuous scale in forested landscapes. We applied the LiDAR-derived visibility to investigate how visibility in forests affects the summer hab...