Paper Info
Title
Investigating the Feasibility of Multi-Scan Terrestrial Laser Scanning to Characterize Tree Communities in Southern Boreal Forests.
Abstract
Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has proven to accurately represent individual trees, while the use of TLS for plot-level forest characterization has been studied less. We used 91 sample plots to assess the feasibility of TLS in estimating plot-level forest inventory attributes, namely the stem number (N), basal area (G), and volume (V) as well as the basal area weighed mean diameter (D-g) and height (H-g). The effect of the sample plot size was investigated by using different-sized sample plots with a fixed scan set-up to also observe possible differences in the quality of point clouds. The Gini coefficient was used to measure the variation in tree size distribution at the plot-level to investigate the relationship between stand heterogeneity and the performance of the TLS-based method. Higher performances in tree detection and forest attribute estimation were recorded for sample plots with a low degree of tree size variation. The TLS-based approach captured 95% of the variation in H-g and V, 85% of the variation in D-g and G, and 67% of the variation in N. By increasing the sample plot size, the tree detection rate was decreased, and the accuracy of the estimates, especially G and N, decreased. This study emphasizes the feasibility of TLS-based approaches in plot-level forest inventories in varying southern boreal forest conditions.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.3390/rs11121423
REMOTE SENSING
Keywords
Field
DocType
TLS,ground-based LiDAR,point cloud,forest inventory
Biodiversity,Remote sensing,Forest inventory,Taiga,Geology,Terrestrial laser scanning,Point cloud
Journal
Volume
Issue
Citations 
11
12
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
7
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Tuomas Yrttimaa100.34
ninni saarinen263.53
Ville Kankare3659.21
Xinlian Liang419323.72
Juha Hyyppä543966.75
Markus Holopainen635740.95
Mikko Vastaranta729834.91