Neighbourhood Species Richness Reduces Crown Asymmetry of Subtropical Trees in Sloping Terrain

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Congratulations on this well-written manuscript. Relevant topic of research that was carried out in a thorough way.
Grammatical/textual adjustments should be made based on my comments (see attachment).
Methodological improvements regarding the TLS must (!) be made (see attachment). Improvements in the Introduction section are also necessary (see attachment).
The conclusion section lacks critical reflection of the TLS data acquisition and processing. TLS is not a simple push-button technique. Compare your findings with the existing literature. Set some standards for surveying and processing such exceptional/valuable datasets. Repeatability is the key!

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript was well organized to show effects of neighbourhood tree species richness, neighbourhood pressure, tree height, and slope inclination on crown displacements. Then, it pointed out that tree diversity had the potential to physically stabilize tree growth at sloping sites, reduces the risk of stem breakage or blowdowns, and improves the quality of timber due to the formation of stems with lower CD. Just a minor comment is that how to estimate a spatial resolution equivalent of around 6 mm at a distance of 10 m. Was this a specification of TLS equipment? However, you used some equipment for TLS. Did all equipment you used have same specifications?

Author Response

Thank you for acknowledging our work. The resolution is a specification of the TLS equipment taking into account the scan parameters selected, which in this case were Resolution = ¼ and Quality = 3x. Following your recommendation, we also modified the Supplementary materials to add Table S3 about the technical specification of the three FARO scanners based on the technical fact sheets by FARO (Korntal-Münchingen, Germany).

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear Authors,

I have reviewed the paper titled: “Neighbourhood species richness reduces crown asymmetry of subtropical trees in sloping terrain". In my opinion, the aims of the paper are germane with “Remote sensing” journal topic, in the present form, the paper fits with the international scientific standards. The paper is written with a good English level. The contribution of this paper to the scientific knowledge is acceptable even if some minor flaws are present in the text. Please I suggest revising the paper following the suggestions and comments reported in the file attached.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf