Structural Diversity from the NEON Discrete-Return LiDAR Point Cloud in 2013-2022

Structural diversity, characterizing the volumetric capacity and physical arrangement of biotic components in an ecosystem, controls critical ecosystem functions like light interception, hydrology, and microclimate. This product generates structural diversity metrics for the NEON sites, sourced from the Discrete-Return LiDAR Point Cloud from the NEON Aerial Observation Platform (DP1.30003.001; collected in March 2023). Using R programming, we computed the metrics detailing height, heterogeneity, and density at 30 m, aligned to the Landsat grids, for 243 site years in 57 NEON sites from 2013 to 2022.