Crown closure

Crown closure, in forestry, is a measure of forest canopy coverage.

Typical stands with 100% cover but low closure are coffee agroforestry stands, where overlapping parasol-shaped crowns ensure complete cover but still allow light to penetrate at an oblique angle to the forest floor.

Crown closure is often determined using aerial photographs because ground evaluations become difficult to obtain.

[4] Other methods for estimating crown closure include the use of line-intercept, spherical densiometer, and hemispherical photography.

[6] Aerial photographs made at scales of 1:15,000 or larger can be used to determine crown closure estimates, usually done by ocular interpretation, by grouping stands into percent classes.