Forest Structural Diversity of Central Africa and the Western US mapped using GEDI

GEDI-derived metrics showed robust correlations with ALS data, particularly in dense, flat Central African forests (R2 up to 0.85) compared to more variable terrains like the California Sierra Nevada (R2 up to 0.55). Structural diversity was calculated through probability density-based methods that consider multivariate forest structural metrics. GEDI canopy height (rh98), canopy cover, and foliage height diversity were effective metrics for capturing structural diversity with an R2 of 0.37 when compared to wall-to-wall ALS data at 1-km2 scale.

The maps reveal high structural diversity in mid elevation and coastal forests in the western U.S. and in Central African forest-savanna transitions and volcanic ranges, aligning with ecological processes related to disturbance, wildfires and topographic gradients and aridity. The data are provided in GeoTIFF and comma separated values (CSV) formats. A map of the western US study area is provided in a Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file.