Canopy height model characteristics derived from airbone laser scanning and its effectiveness in discriminating various tropical moist forest types

Mapping tropical forests to a sufficient level of spatial resolution and structural detail is a prerequisite for their rational management, which however remains a largely unmet challenge. We explore the degree to which a forest canopy height model (CHM) derived from airborne laser scanning (ALS) can discriminate between five forest types of similar height but varying structure or composition. We systematically compare various textural features (Haralick, Fourier transform-based, and wavelet-based features) and various classification procedures (linear discriminant analysis (LDA), random forest(RF), and support vector machine (SVM)) applied to two sizes of sampling units (64 m × 64 m and 32 m × 32 m). Simple height distribution statistics achieve at best 70% classification accuracy in our sample set comprising 120 sampling units of 64 m × 64 m. Using w avelet-based features, this accuracy increases to 79% but drops by 10% with smaller sampling units (32 m × 32 m). Classifier performance depends on the texture feature set used, but SVM and RF tend to perform better than LDA. High discrimination rates between forests types of similar height indicate that the ALS-derived CHM provides information suitable for mapping of tropical forest types. Wavelet-based texture features coupled with a SVM classifier was found to be the most promising combination of methods. Ancillary data derived from laser scans and notably topography could be used jointly for an improved segmentation scheme.     

Predicting the spatial pattern of trees by airborne laser scanning

The spatial pattern of trees can be defined as a property of their location in relation to each other. In this study, the spatial pattern was summarized into three categories, regular, random, and clustered, using Ripley's L-function. The study was carried out at 79 sample plots located in a managed forest in Finland. The goal was to study how well the spatial pattern of trees can be predicted by airborne laser scanning (ALS) data. ALS-derived predictions were based upon individual tree detection (ITD), semi-individual tree detection (semi-ITD), and plot-level metrics calculated from the canopy height model, AREA. The kappa value for ITD was almost zero, which indicates no agreement. The semi-ITD and AREA methods performed better, although kappa values were only 0.34 and 0.24, respectively. It appears difficult to detect a particularly clustered spatial pattern.     

Forest structure without ground data: Adaptive Full-Blind Multiple Forward-Mode reflectance model inversion in a mountain pine beetle damaged forest

A new approach for using canopy reflectance models (CRMs) is presented that requires no field data or knowledge about the study area or imagery. Multiple Forward-Mode Adaptive Full-Blind (MFM-AFB) modelling provides forest biophysical structural information (BSI), and can also be used for classification and spectral mixture analysis at sub-pixel scales without user-specified model inputs, training data or endmember spectra, as these are instead automatically derived. In an example application using 2007 Landsat imagery of forest damaged by a mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic in British Columbia, Canada, overall BSI accuracy was within ±1000 stems ha^–1 for stand density, ±0.5 m for crown radius and ±1 m tree height for healthy and MPB stands. MFM-AFB software is suitable for regional, multi-temporal and unknown imagery and areas. By not requiring user-specified a priori model inputs to infer BSI, the MFM-AFB approach may help enable mainstream use of diverse and advanced CRMs for image analysis.     

Estimating above-ground biomass in young forests with airborne laser scanning

Total above-ground biomass of spruce, pine and birch was estimated in three different field datasets collected in young forests in south-east Norway. The mean heights ranged from 1.77 to 9.66 m. These field data were regressed against metrics derived from canopy height distributions generated from airborne laser scanner (ALS) data with a point density of 0.9–1.2 m^?2. The field data consisted of 79 plots with size 200–232.9 m² and 20 stands with an average size of 3742 m². Total above-ground biomass ranged from 2.27 to 90.42 Mg ha^?1. The influences of (1) regression model form, (2) canopy threshold value and (3) tree species on the relationships between biomass and ALS-derived metrics were assessed. The analysed model forms were multiple linear models, models with logarithmic transformation of the response and explanatory variables, and models with square root transformation of the response. The different canopy thresholds considered were fixed values of 0.5, 1.3 and 2.0 m defining the limit between laser canopy echoes and below-canopy echoes. The proportion of explained variability of the estimated models ranged from 60% to 83%. Tree species had a significant influence on the models. For given values of the ALS-derived metrics related to canopy height and canopy density, spruce tended to have higher above-ground biomass values than pine and deciduous species. There were no clear effects of model form and canopy threshold on the accuracy of predictions produced by cross validation of the various models, but there is a risk of heteroskedasticity with linear models. Cross validation revealed an accuracy of the root mean square error (RMSE) ranging from 3.85 to 13.9 Mg ha^?1, corresponding to 22.6% to 48.1% of mean field-measured biomass. It was concluded that airborne laser scanning has a potential for predicting biomass in young forest stands (> 0.5 ha) with an accuracy of 20–30% of mean ground value.     

Analysis of different polarimetric target decomposition methods in forest density classification using C band SAR data

The ability of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) C-band microwave energy to penetrate within forest vegetation makes it possible to extract information on crown components, which in turn gives a better approximation of relative canopy density than optical data-derived canopy density. Many studies have been reported to estimate forest biomass from SAR data, but the scope of C-band SAR in characterizing forest canopy density has not been adequately understood with polarimetric techniques. Polarimetric classification is one of the most significant applications of polarimetric SAR in remote sensing. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of different polarimetric SAR data decomposition methods in forest canopy density classification using C-band SAR data. Landsat (Land Satellite) 5 TM (Thematic Mapper) data of the same area has been used as optical data to compare the classification result. RADARSAT (Radar Satellite)-2 image with fine quad-pol obtained on 27 October 2011 over tropical dry forests of Madhav National Park, India, was used for the analysis of full polarimetric data. Six decomposition methods were selected based on incoherent decomposition for generating input images for classification, i.e. Huynen, Freeman and Durden, Yamaguchi, Cloude, Van zyl, and H/A/α. The performance of each decomposition output in relation to each land cover unit present in the study area was assessed using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Results show that Yamaguchi 4-component decomposition (overall accuracy 87.66% and kappa coefficient (κ) 0.86) gives better classification results, followed by Van Zyl decomposition (overall accuracy 87.20% and κ 0.85) and Freeman and Durden (overall accuracy 86.79% and κ 0.85) in forest canopy density classification. Both model-based decompositions (Freeman and Durden and Yamaguchi4) registered good classification accuracy. In eigenvector or eigenvalue decompositions, Van zyl registered the second highest accuracy among different decompositions. The experimental results obtained with polarimetric C-band SAR data over a tropical dry deciduous forest area imply that SAR data have significant potential for estimating canopy density in operational forestry. A better forest density classification result can be achieved within the forest mask (without other land cover classes). The limitations associated with optical data such as non-availability of cloud-free data and misclassification because of gregarious occurrence of bushy vegetation such as Lantana can be overcome by using C-band SAR data.     

Estimation of above- and below-ground biomass across regions of the boreal forest zone using airborne laser

Regression models relating variables derived from airborne laser scanning (ALS) to above-ground and below-ground biomass were estimated for 1395 sample plots in young and mature coniferous forest located in ten different areas within the boreal forest zone of Norway. The sample plots were measured as part of large-scale operational forest inventories. Four different ALS instruments were used and point density varied from 0.7 to 1.2 m^− 2. One variable related to canopy height and one related to canopy density were used as independent variables in the regressions. The statistical effects of area and age class were assessed by including dummy variables in the models. Tree species composition was treated as continuous variables. The proportion of explained variability was 88% for above- and 85% for below-ground biomass models. For given combinations of ALS-derived variables, the differences between the areas were up to 32% for above-ground biomass and 38% for below-ground biomass. The proportion of spruce had a significant impact on both the estimated models. The proportion of broadleaves had a significant effect on above-ground biomass only, while the effect of age class was significant only in the below-ground biomass model. Because of local effects on the biomass-ALS data relationships, it is indicated by this study that sample plots distributed over the entire area would be needed when using ALS for regional or national biomass monitoring.     

Multi-scale crown closure retrieval for moso bamboo forest using multi-source remotely sensed imagery based on geometric-optical and Erf-BP neural network models

This article focuses on retrieving the multi-scale crown closure (CC) of Moso bamboo forest using Système Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT5) and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) satellite remotely sensed imagery based on the geometric-optical model and the artificial neural network (ANN) model. CC at local scale was first retrieved using the Li-Strahler geometric-optical model (LSGM) and images from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Then, multi-scale CC was retrieved using the Erf-BP model (a kind of back-propagation (BP) feed-forward neural network, which takes a Gaussian error function (Erf) as an activation function of the hidden layer) based on a combination of SPOT5 and Landsat TM images. The results show that by combining multi-source remotely sensed data, the CC of Moso bamboo forest can be retrieved at the local region, township area, and county scale with high accuracy using the Erf-BP model. Estimated values have a linear relationship with the observed values at a significance level of 0.05. The highest accuracy of the retrieval of CC (referred to as LSGM-UAV-CC) was observed at the local region based on LSGM and UAV, with the coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.63, followed by that at the township area with an R² of 0.0.55 based on LSGM-UAV-CC and SPOT5 data using the Erf-BP model (Erf-BP-SPOT5-CC), and that at the county scale with an R² of 0.54 based on Erf-BP-SPOT5-CC and Landsat TM data using the Erf-BP model (Erf-BP-TM-CC).     

The Comparison of Urban Tree Crown Extraction based on Airborne LiDARElevation Difference and High Resolution Imagery

With the support of airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and high spatial resolution aerial imagery,this paper presents an individual tree extraction method that takes the region of urban as the study area.The elevation difference model originated from LiDAR data was used to extract regions of interest including trees. Then,masking was applied to the high spatial resolution aerial imagery to get the same regions. Besides,image segmentations,based on the marked watershed algorithm,were processed on the high spatial resolution aerial imagery and the elevation difference model separately to extract individual tree crowns. Finally,we took a visual interpretation to delineate tree crowns manually and this result was regarded as the reference crowns map. The extraction accuracies were assessed by comparing the spatial relationships of the reference crowns and the automated delineated tree crowns based on the elevation difference model and the high resolution imagery. The results show that the LiDAR data is developed to improve the efficiency of obtaining forest region that the canopy height model include 85.25% forest information. In addition,the tree crowns extraction accuracy based on the high resolution aerial imagery is 57.14%,while another extraction accuracy based on the elevation difference model is 42.47%,which indicated that the marked watershed algorithm proposed in this paper is effective and the high resolution imagery is better than the elevation difference model to extract tree crowns.     

Development of a robust canopy height model derived from ALS point clouds for predicting individual crown attributes at the species level

ABSTRACT

Tree crown attributes are important parameters during the assessment and monitoring of forest ecosystems. Canopy height models (CHMs) derived from airborne laser scanning (ALS) data have proved to be a reliable source for extracting different biophysical characteristics of single trees and at stand level. However, ALS-derived tree measurements (e.g., mean crown diameter) can be negatively affected by pits that appear in the CHMs. Thus, we propose a novel method for generating pit-free CHMs from ALS point clouds for estimating crown attributes (i.e., area and mean diameter) at the species level. The method automatically calculates a threshold for a pixel based on the range of height values within neighbouring pixels; if the pixel falls below the threshold then it is recognized as a pitted pixel. The pit is then filled with the median of the values of the neighbouring pixels. Manually delineated individual tree crowns (ITC) of four deciduous and two coniferous species on Colour Infrared (CIR) stereo images were used as a reference in the analysis. In addition, a variety of different algorithms for constructing CHMs were compared to investigate the performance of different CHMs in similar forest conditions. Comparisons between the estimated and observed crown area (R² = 0.95, RMSE% = 19.12% for all individuals) and mean diameter (R² = 0.92, RMSE% = 12.16% for all individuals) revealed that ITC attributes were correctly estimated by segmentation of the pit-free CHM proposed in this study. The goodness of matching and geometry revealed that the delineated crowns correctly matched up to the reference data and had identical geometry in approximately 70% of cases. The results showed that the proposed method produced a CHM that estimates crown attributes more accurately than the other investigated CHMs. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the proposed algorithm used to fill pits with the median of height observed in surrounding pixels significantly improve the accuracy of the results the species level due to a higher correlation between the estimated and observed crown attributes. Based on these results, we concluded that the proposed pit filling method is capable of providing an automatic and objective solution for constructing pit-free CHMs for assessing individual crown attributes of mixed forest stands.     

Evaluate Quantitatively Effects of Understory on Leaf Area Index (LAI) Estimation Combining Active and Passive Remote Sensing Data

Natural forests have the vertical three\|dimensional structure of canopy and understory vegetation (shrubs,grasslands,and bare soil).Accurate and quantitative separation of understory vegetation is of great scientific significance and practicality on improving the precision of inversion of forest canopy leaf area index.value.Due to the limitations of traditional passive optical remote sensing data on directly acquiring 3D information,this study intends to combine active and passive ALS and HyperMap data with the Washington Botanic Garden as the key research area.On the basis of individual tree segmentation,the vertical stratification of the forest (forest canopy and undergrowth vegetation layer) is achieved.On this basis,the forest canopy laser point cloud data was used to remove the understory information from the optical image data.By comparing the results of the forest effective leaf area index obtained from aerial optical images and ground measurements,it was found that：(1) forest canopy density has a significant impact on the penetration of ALS data;(2) removal of understory information can effectively improve the forest crown accuracy of LAIe estimated.The correlation between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and ground surface measured effective leaf area index increased from 0.087 to 0.591.In addition,the optical remote sensing image based on the removal of understory vegetation information was compared with the Simple Ratio vegetation index (SR) (the correlation increased from 0.209 to 0.559) and the simplified simple Ratio vegetation index (RSR) (the correlation increased from 0.147 to 0.358).The NDVI was most sensitive to changes in canopy leaf area index (correlation increased by 0.5).The method of quantitatively separating understory vegetation with the combined active and passive remote sensing data proposed in this study can effectively improve the accuracy of inversion of forest canopy leaf area index,and provide a solid foundation for quantitative and accurate estimate of forest biophysical parameters and study of carbon and water cycle processes.     

Mapping a keystone shrub species,huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum), using seasonal colour change in the Rocky Mountains

Black huckleberries (Vaccinium membranaceum) provide a critical food resource to many wildlife species, including apex omnivores such as the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), and play an important socioeconomic role for many communities in western North America, especially indigenous peoples. Remote sensing imagery offers the potential for accurate landscape-level mapping of huckleberries because the shrub changes colour seasonally. We developed two methods, for local and regional scales, to map a shrub species using leaf seasonal colour change from remote sensing imagery. We assessed accuracy with ground-based vegetation surveys. The high-resolution supervised random forest classification from one-meter resolution National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery achieved an overall accuracy of 75.31% (kappa = 0.26). The approach using multi-temporal 30-meter Landsat imagery similarly had an overall accuracy of 79.19% (kappa = .31). We found underprediction error was related to higher forest cover and a lack of visible colour change on the ground in some plots. Where forest cover was low, both models performed better. In areas with <10% forest cover, the high-resolution classification achieved an accuracy of 80.73% (kappa = 0.48), while the Landsat model had an accuracy of 82.55% (kappa = 0.47). Based on the fine-scale predictions, we found that 94% of huckleberry shrubs identified in our study area of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA are over 100 meters from human recreation trails. This information could be combined with productivity and phenology information to estimate the timing and availability of food resources for wildlife and to provide managers with a tool to identify and manage huckleberries. The development of the multi-temporal Landsat models sets the stage for assessment of impacts of disturbance at regional scales on this ecologically, culturally, and economically important shrub species. Our approach to map huckleberries is straightforward, efficient and accessible to wildlife and environmental managers and researchers in diverse fields.     

基于机载LiDAR点云数据森林郁闭度估测

郁闭度是反映森林数量和质量的重要参数,是森林调查的重要因子之一。以广西壮族自治区高峰林场试验区获取的机载LiDAR点云数据为基础,基于二维冠层高度模型（Canopy Height Model,CHM）和三维点云开展了森林郁闭度估测研究。使用实地调查的105块样地作为验证参考数据对郁闭度估测结果进行了精度评价,结果表明：基于二维CHM估测郁闭度与实测值之间的R²=0.388,RMSE=0.17;而基于三维点云估测郁闭度采用了2种方法：第一种方法采用归一化后2 m以上高度植被点云密度与归一化后所有点云密度比值估测郁闭度,估测结果与实测值之间的R²=0.467,RMSE=0.13。第二种方法采用归一化后2 m以上高度第一次回波植被点云密度与归一化后第一次回波所有点云密度比值估测郁闭度,估测结果与实测值之间的R²=0.478,RMSE=0.12;基于三维点云的2种方法估测林分郁闭度的精度皆优于基于二维CHM的方法,基于三维点云估测林分郁闭度方法中,第二种方法的精度优于第一种方法。     

Geo-referencing forest field plots by co-registration of terrestrial and airborne laser scanning data

Remote sensing plays an important role within the field of forest inventory. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) has become an effective tool for acquiring forest inventory data. In most ALS-based forest inventories, accurately positioned field plots are used in the process of relating ALS data to field-observed biophysical properties. The geo-referencing of these field plots is typically carried out by means of differential global navigation satellite systems (dGNSS), and often relies on logging times of 15–20 min to ensure adequate accuracy under different forest conditions. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has been proposed as a possible tool for collection of field data in forest inventories and can facilitate rapid acquisition of these data. In the present study, a novel method for co-registration of TLS and ALS data by posterior analysis of remote-sensing data – rather than using dGNSS – was proposed and then tested on 71 plots in a boreal forest. The method relies on an initial position obtained with a recreational-grade GPS receiver, in addition to analysis of the ALS and TLS data. First, individual tree positions were derived from the remote-sensing data. A search algorithm was then used to find the best match for the TLS-derived trees among the ALS-derived trees within a search area, defined relative to the initial position. The accuracy of co-registration was assessed by comparison with an accurately measured reference position. With a search radius of 25 m and using low-density ALS data (0.7 points m^?2), 82% and 51% of the TLS scans were co-registered with positional errors within 1 m and 0.5 m, respectively. By using ALS data of medium density (7.5 points m^?2), 87% and 78% of the scans were co-registered with errors within 1 m and 0.5 m of the reference position, respectively. These results are promising and the method can facilitate rapid acquisition and geo-referencing of field data. Robust methods to identify and handle erroneous matches are, however, required before it is suitable for operational use.     

A new approach for forest decline assessments: maximizing detail and accuracy with multispectral imagery

Remote sensing of forest condition is typically based on broadband vegetation indices to quantify coarse categories of canopy condition. More detailed and accurate assessments have been demonstrated using narrowband sensors, although with more limited image availability. While differences in sensor capabilities are obvious, I hypothesized that multispectral imagery may be able to detect more subtle canopy stress symptoms if a new calibration approach was considered. This involves three major changes to traditional decline assessments: (1) calibration with more detailed field measurements, (2) consideration of narrowband derived indices adapted for broadband calculation, and (3) a multivariate calibration model. Testing this approach on Landsat-5 (TM) imagery in the Catskills, NY, USA, a five-term linear regression model (r² = 0.621, RMSE 0.403) based on a unique combination of vegetation indices sensitive to canopy chlorophyll, carotenoids, green leaf area, and water content was able to quantify a broad range of forest condition across species. When rounded to a class-based system for comparison to more traditional methods, this equation predicted decline across 42 mixed-species plots with 65% accuracy (10-classes), and 100% accuracy (5-classes). This approach was a significant improvement over commonly used vegetation indices such as NDVI (r² = 0.351, RMSE = 0.500, 10-class accuracy = 60%, and 5-class accuracy = 74%). These results suggest that relying solely on a single common vegetation index to assess forest condition may artificially limit the accuracy and detail possible with multispectral imagery. I recommend that future efforts to monitor forest decline consider this three-pronged approach to decline predictions in order to maximize the information and accuracy obtainable with broadband sensors so widely available at this time.     

Comparison of UAS photogrammetric products for tree detection and characterization of coniferous stands

The use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) opens a new era for remote sensing and forest management, which requires accurate and regular quantification of resources. In this study, we propose a comprehensive workflow to detect trees and assess forest attributes in the particular context of coniferous stands in transformation from even-aged to uneven-aged stands, using UAS imagery, from data acquisition to model construction. We implement a local maxima detection to identify the tree tops, based on a fixed-radius moving window in a Canopy Height Model (CHM) and images produced from UAS surveys. To compare the contribution of different photogrammetric products, we analysed the local maxima detected from the CHM, from three image types (individual rectified and ortho-rectified images and ortho-mosaic) and from a combination of both CHM and images. The local maxima detection gave promising results, with low omission and true-positive rates of up to 89.2%. A filtering process of false positives was implemented, using a supervised classification which decreased the false positives up to 2.6%. Based on the local maxima combined with an area-based approach, we constructed models to assess top height (R²: 83%, root mean square error [RMSE]: 5.7%), number of stems (R²: 71%, RMSE: 28.3%), basal area (R²: 70%, RMSE: 16.2%), volume (R²: 69%, RMSE: 20.1%), and individual tree height (R²: 70%, RMSE: 7.2%). Despite a suboptimal data acquisition, our simple and flexible method has yielded good results and shows great potential for application.     

Improving tropical forest mapping using multi-date Landsat TM data and pre-classification image smoothing

The present study explores the possibility of using Landsat imagery for mapping tropical forest types with relevance to forest ecosystem services. The central part in the classification process is the use of multi-date image data and pre-classification image smoothing. The study argues that multi-date imagery contains information on phenological and canopy structural properties, and shows how the use of multi-date imagery has a significant impact on classification accuracy. Furthermore, the study shows the value of applying small kernel smoothing filters to reduce in-class spectral variability and enhance between-class spectral separability. Making use of these approaches and a maximum likelihood algorithm, six tropical forest types were classified with an overall accuracy of 90.94%, and with individual forest classes mapped with accuracies above 75.19% (user's accuracy) and above 74.17% (producer's accuracy).     

Object-based delineation of urban tree canopy: assessing change in Oklahoma City, 2006–2013

With a burgeoning global population, the pressures of urbanization are increasingly prevalent. The need to quantify urban greenness remains significant due to environmental impact and its relationship with human well-being. Utilizing 1 m discrete-return airborne lidar-derived digital terrain models (DTMs) and digital surface models (DSMs), aerial imagery, and lidar-imagery fusion, this study assesses vegetation, specifically tree canopy, change within Oklahoma City between 2006 and 2013. Specifically, we (1) identify an accurate object-based image analysis (OBIA) method for the detection of urban vegetation outlines, and (2) apply that method to locate and quantify vegetation change and assess spatial patterns in Oklahoma City between 2006 and 2013. The proposed OBIA approach extracts urban vegetation coverage from aerial imagery and lidar-based models with around 89% accuracy. Regarding vegetation change, Oklahoma City lost 9.69 km² (3.74 mi²) of tree canopy coverage, which accounted for a 2% loss in total greenness.     

Filling invalid values in a lidar-derived canopy height model with morphological crown control

The light detection and ranging (lidar) technique has rapidly developed worldwide in numerous fields. The canopy height model (CHM), which can be generated from lidar data, is a useful model in forestry research. The CHM shows the canopy height above ground, and it indicates vertical elevation changes and the horizontal distribution of the canopy’s upper surface. Many vegetation parameters, which are important in forest inventory, can be extracted from the CHM. However, some abnormal or sudden changes of the height values (i.e. invalid values), which appear as unnatural holes in an image, exist in CHMs. This article proposes an approach to fill the invalid values in lidar-derived CHMs with morphological crown control. First, the Laplacian operator is applied to an original CHM to determine possible invalid values. Then, the morphological closing operator is applied to recover the crown coverage. By combining the two results, the possible invalid values in the CHM can be confirmed and replaced by corresponding values in the median-filtered CHM. The filling results from this new method are compared with those from other methods and with charge-coupled device images for evaluation. Finally, a CHM with random noise is used to test the filling correctness of the algorithm. The experiments show that this approach can fill the most invalid values well while refraining from overfilling.     

Detection of forest harvest type using multiple dates of Landsat TM imagery

A simple and relatively accurate technique for classifying time-series Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery to detect levels of forest harvest is the topic of this research. The accuracy of multidate classification of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the normalized difference moisture index (NDMI) were compared and the effect of the number of years (1–3, 3–4, 5–6 years) between image acquisition on forest change accuracy was evaluated. When Landsat image acquisitions were only 1–3 years apart, forest clearcuts were detected with producer's accuracy ranging from 79% to 96% using the RGB-NDMI classification method. Partial harvests were detected with lower producer's accuracy (55–80%) accuracy. The accuracy of both clearcut and partial harvests decreased as time between image acquisition increased. In all classification trials, the RGB-NDMI method produced significantly higher accuracies, compared to the RGB-NDVI. These results are interesting because the less common NDMI (using the reflected middle infrared band) outperformed the more popular NDVI. In northern Maine, industrial forest landowners have shifted from clearcutting to partial harvest systems in recent years. The RGB-NDMI change detection classification applied to Landsat TM imagery collected every 2–3 years appears to be a promising technique for monitoring forest harvesting and other disturbances that do not remove the entire overstory canopy.     

Evaluating the potential of multispectral imagery to map multiple stages of tree mortality

Insect outbreaks are major forest disturbances, causing tree mortality across millions of ha in North America. Resultant spatial and temporal patterns of tree mortality can profoundly affect ecosystem structure and function. In this study, we evaluated the classification accuracy of multispectral imagery at different spatial resolutions. We used four-band digital aerial imagery (30-cm spatial resolution and aggregated to coarser resolutions) acquired over lodgepole pine-dominated stands in central Colorado recently attacked by mountain pine beetle. Classes of interest included green trees and multiple stages of post-insect attack tree mortality, including dead trees with red needles (“red-attack”), dead trees without needles (“gray-attack”), and non-forest. The 30-cm resolution image facilitated delineation of trees located in the field, which were used in image classification. We employed a maximum likelihood classifier using the green band, Red-Green Index (RGI), and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Pixel-level classification accuracies using this imagery were good (overall accuracy of 87%, kappa = 0.84), although misclassification occurred between a) sunlit crowns of live (green) trees and herbaceous vegetation, and b) sunlit crowns of gray- and red-attack trees and bare soil. We explored the capability of coarser resolution imagery, aggregated from the 30-cm resolution to 1.2, 2.4, and 4.2 m, to improve classification accuracy. We found the highest accuracy at the 2.4-m resolution, where reduction in omission and commission errors and increases in overall accuracy (90%) and kappa (0.88) were achieved, and visual inspection indicated improved mapping. Pixels at this resolution included more shadow in forested regions than pixels in finer resolution imagery, thereby reducing forest canopy reflectance and allowing improved separation between forest and non-forest classes, yet were fine enough to resolve individual tree crowns better than the 4.2-m imagery. Our results illustrate that a classification of an image with a spatial resolution similar to the area of a tree crown outperforms that of finer and coarser resolution imagery for mapping tree mortality and non-forest classes. We also demonstrate that multispectral imagery can be used to separate multiple postoutbreak attack stages (i.e., red-attack and gray-attack) from other classes in the image.