Combining multisource remote sensing data to calculate individual tree biomass in complex stands

Abstract

Accurate estimation of forest individual tree characteristics and biomass is very important for monitoring global carbon storage and carbon cycle. In order to solve the problem of calculating individual biomass of various tree species in complex stands, we take terrestrial laser scanning data, unmanned aerial vehicle-laser scanning data, and multispectral data as data sources and extract spectral characteristics, vegetation index characteristics, texture characteristics, and tree height characteristics of diverse forest areas through multispectral classification of tree species. Based on the random forest (RF) algorithm, the extracted features were superimposed and optimized, and the tree species were classified according to the multispectral data combined with field investigation. Then multispectral classification data combined with light detection and ranging (LIDAR) point cloud data were used to classify point cloud species, and then individual tree parameters were extracted for the divided point cloud species, and stand biomass was obtained using the tree biomass calculation model. The results showed that all kinds of tree species could be identified based on RF algorithm by combining multispectral data and LIDAR data. The overall classification accuracy was 66% and the kappa coefficient was 0.59. The recall rate of poplar, cypress, and lacebark-pine was about 75%, except for willow and clove trees, which were blocked by large crown width and caused multiple detection and missed detection. The R2 of diameter at breast height was 0.85, and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) was 5.90 cm. The R2 of the tree height was 0.90, and the RMSE was 1.78 m. Finally, the biomass of each tree species was calculated, and the stand biomass was 66.76 t/hm2, which realized the classification of the whole stand and the measurement of the biomass of each tree. Our study proves that the application of combined multisource remote sensing data to forest biomass estimation has good feasibility.