Owing to rapidly expanding capabilities in remote sensing and computational technologies, scientists are now capable of precisely measuring the physical structure of ecosystems across large spatial scales to accurately characterize ecosystem structural diversity. Structural diversity is defined as the volumetric capacity and arrangement (e.g. complexity, variation) of biotic components within ecosystems. Despite recent progress in this relatively new area of ecological research, it is still not well understood how recent advances in the consistent characterization of structural diversity are related to ecological processes. For example, structural diversity may be a better predictor of key ecosystem functions (e.g. productivity) than biodiversity, but the mechanisms underlying these patterns have not yet been sufficiently tested across ecosystem types or ecosystem functions. In this session, scientists will share novel findings on how structural diversity relates to biodiversity and ecosystem functions across ecosystems. Speakers working at the forefront of remote sensing, forest ecology, and species distribution modelling will present upon different methodologies for measuring structural diversity, relating them to ecosystem pattern and process, and assessing their implications for ecological theory and management.