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Driven by the successful applications of lidar in forestry and the availability of lidar technology, new research is being carried out in other ecosystems. While lidar data have often been used to study tall forest ecosystems, this study explores the utility of lidar in the lower-canopy ecosystems of the Belgian coastal dune belt. This area is largely covered by marram dune, moss dune, grassland, scrubs and some woodland. Small diameter (0.4 m) footprint lidar was applied to derive the canopy height by analyzing the first and last pulse returns simultaneously. The investigation focused on whether the height of low-canopy ecosystems could be mapped with adequate accuracy. An error analysis was performed first on flat terrain (i.e., tennis court and parking lot) and then on vegetation canopy. The mapping of coastal dune vegetation is necessary to establish the strength of the dune belt. Dune vegetation fixes the sand …