Pigments are the biochemical material basis for energy and material exchange between vegetation and the external environment, therefore quantitative determination of pigment content is crucial. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-borne remote sensing data coupled with radiative transfer models (RTM) provide marked strengths for three-dimensional (3D) visualization, as well as accurate determination of the distributions of pigment content in forest canopies. In this study, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and hyperspectral images acquired by a multi-rotor UAV were assessed with the PROSAIL model (i.e., PROSPECT model coupled with 4SAIL model) and were synthetically implemented to estimate the horizontal and vertical distribution of pigments in canopies of Ginkgo plantations in a study site within coastal southeast China. Firstly, the fusion of LiDAR point cloud and hyperspectral images was carried out in the frame of voxels to obtain fused hyperspectral point clouds. Secondly, the PROSAIL model was calibrated using specific model parameters of Ginkgo trees and the corresponding look-up tables (LUTs) of leaf pigment content were constructed and optimally selected. Finally, based on the optimal LUTs and combined with the hyperspectral point clouds, the horizontal and vertical distributions of pigments in different ages of ginkgo trees were mapped to explore their distribution characteristics. The results showed that 22-year-old ginkgo trees had higher biochemical pigment content (increase 3.37-55.67%) than 13-year-old ginkgo trees. Pigment content decreased with the increase of height, whereas pigment content from the outer part of tree canopies showed a rising tendency as compared to the inner part of canopies. Compared with the traditional vegetation index models (R-2 = 0.25-0.46, rRMSE = 16.25-19.37%), the new approach developed in this study exhibited significant higher accuracies (R-2 = 0.36-0.60, rRMSE = 13.53-16.86%). The results of this study confirmed the effectiveness of coupling the UAV-borne LiDAR and hyperspectral image with the PROSAIL model for accurately assessing pigment content in ginkgo canopies, and the developed estimation methods can also be adopted to other regions under different conditions, providing technical support for sustainable forest management and precision silvicuture for plantations.
