Richard Fournier

Research topics

My research work focuses on the remote sensing of natural plant ecosystems such as forests and wetlands. My main focus is the development of tools for the analysis of 3D data from terrestrial LiDAR in the context of forest inventories (LiDAR is particularly well suited to measure parameters that are otherwise difficult to obtain). I am also looking to improve the ability to measure forest cover with airborne LiDAR and other remote sensing tools such as optical/infrared satellite images of all spatial resolutions. Finally, I spend some time on studies on ecosystem conservation issues and the use of geomatics tools for watershed management.

Email

Richard.Fournier@USherbrooke.ca

Current projects

Assessment, modelling and extraction of structural parameters of forest stands using a terrestrial LiDAR (3D): assessment of stem, crown, leaf area and canopy element distribution parameters
Improvement of forest attribute mapping methods using LiDAR data (land, drone and airborne) and satellite images
Mapping, measuring and modelling of forest and tree structural attributes, such as wood fibre attributes, leaf area index, biomass, wood volume, stem scrolling, etc.
Use of geomatics tools for watershed or recreational water management
Mapping of conservation areas

Publications (selected articles)

Nguyen, V. T., Fournier, R. A., Côté, J. F., & Pimont, F. (2022). Estimation of vertical plant area density from single return terrestrial laser scanning point clouds acquired in forest environments. Remote Sensing of Environment, 279, 113115.
van Lier, O. R., Luther, J. E., White, J. C., Fournier, R. A., & Côté, J. F. (2022). Effect of scan angle on ALS metrics and area-based predictions of forest attributes for balsam fir dominated stands. Forestry, 95(1), 49-72.
Frizzle, C., Fournier, R. A., Trudel, M., & Luther, J. E. (2022). Towards sustainable forestry: Using a spatial Bayesian belief network to quantify trade-offs among forest-related ecosystem services. Journal of Environmental Management, 301, 113817.
Bour, B., Danneyrolles, V., Boucher, Y., Fournier, R. A., & Guindon, L. (2021). Modeling post-logging height growth of black spruce-dominated boreal forests by combining airborne LiDAR and time since harvest maps. Forest Ecology and Management, 502, 119697.
Vandendaele, B., Fournier, R. A., Vepakomma, U., Pelletier, G., Lejeune, P., & Martin-Ducup, O. (2021). Estimation of Northern Hardwood Forest Inventory Attributes Using UAV Laser Scanning (ULS): Transferability of Laser Scanning Methods and Comparison of Automated Approaches at the Tree-and Stand-Level. Remote Sensing, 13(14), 2796.
van Lier, O. R., Luther, J. E., White, J. C., Fournier, R. A., & Côté, J. F. (2021). Effect of scan angle on ALS metrics and area-based predictions of forest attributes for balsam fir dominated stands. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research.
Batistin, B., Danneyrolles, V., Boucher, Y., Fournier, R. A., & Guindon, L. (2021). Modeling post-logging height growth of black spruce forests by combining airborne LiDAR and historical forestry maps in eastern Canadian boreal forest. bioRxiv.
Frizzle, C., Fournier, R. A., Trudel, M., & Luther, J. E. (2021). Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool to develop a LiDAR-based index of the erosion regulation ecosystem service. Journal of Hydrology, 595, 126009.
Goodbody, T. R., Coops, N. C., Luther, J. E., Tompalski, P., Mulverhill, C., Frizzle, C., … & Herniman, S. (2021). Airborne laser scanning for quantifying criteria and indicators of sustainable forest management in Canada. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 51(7), 972-985.
Côté, J.-F., Luther, J., Lenz, P., Fournier, R.A., van Lier, O.R. (2021) Predicting wood fibre attributes of boreal conifer trees and forest plots with a fine-scale architectural model. Forest Ecology and Management, vol. 479, 118624.
Crespo-Peremarch, P., Fournier, R.A., Nguyen, V.-T., Ruiz, L.A., van Lier, O.R. (2020) Comparative detection of the vertical distribution of forest components with full-waveform, discrete airborne and discrete terrestrial laser scanning data. Forest Ecology and Management, 473, 118268, p. 1-15.
Soma, M., Pimont, F., Allard, D., Fournier, R.A., Dupuy J.-L. (2020) Mitigating occlusion effects in Leaf Area Density estimates from Terrestrial LiDAR through a specific kriging method. Remote Sensing of Environment, 245 : 111836 (p. 1-12).
Bolton, D.K., P. Tompalski, N.C. Coops, J.C. White, M.A. Wulder, T. Hermosilla, M. Queinnec, J.E. Luther, O.R. van Lier, R.A. Fournier, M. Woods, P. Treitz, K. van Ewijk, G. Graham, L. Quist (2020) Optimizing Landsat time series length for regional mapping of lidar-derived forest structure. Remote Sensing of Environment, 239 : 111645.
Allostry, J., Ludwig, A., Kotchi, S. O., Rousseu, F., & Fournier, R. (2020). Mapping the Vector Abundance of Endemic Mosquito-Borne Diseases in Southern Quebec.
Bouvier, M., S. Durrieu, R.A. Fournier, N. Saint-Geours, D. Guyon, E. Grau and F. de Boissieu (2019) Influence of Sampling Design Parameters on Biomass Predictions Derived from Airborne LiDAR Data. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, 45(5) : 650-672.
Ravaglia, J., R.A. Fournier, A. Bac, C. Véga, J.-F. Côté, A. Piboule and U. Rémillard (2019) Comparison of Three Algorithms to Estimate Tree Stem Diameter from Terrestrial Laser Scanner Data. Forests, 10(7), 599.
Varin, M., J. Théau and R.A. Fournier (2019) Mapping ecosystem services provided by wetlands at multiples spatiotemporal scales : A case study in Quebec, Canada. Journal of Environmental Management, 246 : 334-344.
Luther, J.E., R.A. Fournier, O.R. van Lier and M. Bujold (2019) Extending ALS-Based Mapping of Forest Attributes with Medium Resolution Satellite and Environmental Data. Remote Sensing, 11(9) : 1092.
Giroud, G., Schneider, R., Fournier, R. A., Luther, J. E., & Martin-Ducup, O. (2019). Modeling black spruce wood fiber attributes with terrestrial laser scanning. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 49(6), 661-669.
Giroud, G., R. Schneider, R.A. Fournier, J.E. Luther and O. Martin-Ducup (2018) Modeling black spruce wood fiber attributes with terrestrial laser scanning. Revue canadienne de recherche forestière.
Martin-Ducup, O., R. Schneider and R.A. Fournier (2018) Analyzing the Vertical Distribution of Crown Material in Mixed Stand Composed of Two Temperate Tree Species. Forests, 9(11) : 693.
Côté, J.-F., R.A. Fournier, J.E. Luther and O.R. van Lier (2018) Fine-scale three-dimensional modeling of boreal forest plots to improve forest characterization with remote sensing. Remote Sensing of Environment, 219 : 99-114.
Mouissa, H., R.A. Fournier, E.H. Oldache et M. Bellatreche (2018) Détection des changements au niveau d’un couvert forestier en milieu semi-aride entre 1984-2009 : Cas de la forêt de Senalba Chergui de Djelfa (Algérie). Journal canadien de télédétection, 44(2): 104-112.
Ravaglia, J., A. Bac, R.A. Fournier (2017a) Anisotropic Octrees: a multi-purpose tool for fast point cloud processing, Computer Science Research Notes (SCRN 2702), Proceedings of Winter School of Computer Graphics (WSCG) 2017, 101-110, Pilsen, Tchek Republic.
Ravaglia, J., A. Bac and R.A. Fournier (2017) Extraction of tubular shapes from dense point clouds and application to tree reconstruction from laser scanned data. Computers & Graphics, 66 : 23-33.
Perrault-Hébert, M., Y. Boucher, R.A. Fournier, F. Girard, I. Auger, N. Thiffault and F. Grenon (2017) Ecological drivers of post-fire regeneration in a recently managed boreal forest landscape of eastern Canada. Forest Ecology and Management, 399 : 74-81.
Martin-Ducup, O., R. Schneider and R. A. Fournier (2017) A method to quantify canopy changes using multi-temporal terrestrial lidar data : Tree response to surrounding gaps. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 237 : 184–195.
Grau, E., S. Durrieu, R.A. Fournier, J.-P. Gastellu-Etchegorry and T. Yin (2017) Estimation of 3D vegetation density with Terrestrial Laser Scanning datausing voxels. A sensitivity analysis of influencing parameters. Remote Sensing of Environment, 191 : 373-388.
Boucher, Y., M. Perrault-Hébert, R.A. Fournier, P. Drapeau and I. Auger (2017) Cumulative patterns of logging and fire (1940–2009) : consequences on the structure of the eastern Canadian boreal forest. Landscape Ecology, 32 : 361-375.
Martin-Ducup, O., R. Schneider and R. A. Fournier (2016) Response of sugar maple (Acer saccharum, Marsh.) tree crown structure to competition in pure versus mixed stands. Forest Ecology and Management, 374 : 20-32.

Livres

Fournier, R.A., D. Mailly, J.-M.N. Walter, and I.G.C. Jonckheere (2011) Acquiring hemispherical photographs in forest environments: from planning to archiving photographs. In: Hemispherical photography for forest science: theory, methods, and applications. Eds. Fournier R.A and R. Hall. Kluwer.
Frazer G.W., R.A. Fournier, S.G. Leblanc, and J.-M.N. Walter (2011) Measurement of element clumping for spatially heterogeneous forest using hemispherical photography. In: Hemispherical photography for forest science: theory, methods, and applications. Eds. Fournier R.A and R. Hall. Kluwer.
Leblanc, S.G. and R.A. Fournier (2011) Measurement of forest structure with hemispherical photography, In: Hemispherical photography for forest science: theory, methods, and applications. Eds. Fournier R.A and R. Hall. Kluwer.
Mora B., R.A. Fournier and S. Foucher (2009) Comparative performance between Free DSm model and the Dempster-Shafer Theory to map regenerating forest stands, In Smarandache F. and J. Dezert (Editors), Advances and Applications of DSmT for Information Fusion (Collected Works), American Research Press, Rehoboth, Chapter 21, p. 529-547.
Fournier R. A.; Mailly, D.; Walter, J.-M. N. and Soudani, K. (2003). « Indirect measurement of forest structure from in situ optical sensors ». In: Methods and applications for remote sensing of forests: Concepts and case studies, Wulder M. and S. Franklin (Eds). Avril 2003, p. 77-113.