Tree height estimations for different forest canopies in natural secondary forests based on ULS, TLS and ultrasonic altimeter systems

ZHAO Yinghui, YANG Haicheng, ZHEN Zhen

JOURNAL OF NANJING FORESTRY UNIVERSITY ›› 2021, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (4) : 23-32.

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南京林业大学学报（自然科学版）
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JOURNAL OF NANJING FORESTRY UNIVERSITY ›› 2021, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (4) : 23-32. DOI: 10.12302/j.issn.1000-2006.202009021

Tree height estimations for different forest canopies in natural secondary forests based on ULS, TLS and ultrasonic altimeter systems

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Abstract

【Objective】 A comparison of tree heights, estimated from different data sources for different forest canopies, was performed in natural secondary forests of Northern China to identify the optimal data source for different forest canopy layers. 【Method】 The study area, with a plot of 0.25 hm2, was located in the Maoershan Forest Farm of the Northeast Forestry University. We conducted a performance comparison of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), unmanned aerial vehicle laser scanning (ULS), and the Vertex IV ultrasonic instrument system in the estimation of individual tree heights. The forest canopy was stratified according to the canopy height distribution (CHD), and individual tree heights of different tree types (coniferous and broadleaved) were estimated and compared according to different canopy layers (overstory and understory). 【Result】 The threshold of canopy stratification calculated by CHD was 8.5 m. We also found that the outliers of tree heights mostly occurred in the overstory canopy, deciduous trees were more prone to outliers than coniferous trees, and ULS was more prone to outliers than TLS. Stratification of the forest canopy based on CHD can reflect the scope of tree height estimation using different data sources. In the overstory, the relative root mean square error (rRMSE) of tree height estimated by ULS was 2.56% lower than that estimated by TLS, while the rRMSE of coni-ferous tree height estimated by ULS was 2.68% lower than that of deciduous trees. ULS can only detect a small number of trees and had a higher rRMSE of 6.31% compared to TLS. Furthermore, the rRMSE of coniferous tree height estimated by TLS was 1.16% lower than that of deciduous trees. 【Conclusion】 For different canopy layers, the accuracy of conife-rous tree height was generally higher than that of deci-duous tree height. When both TLS and ULS can scan a single tree completely, both have the potential to accurately obtain the tree height. Most outliers of tree height were caused by deci-duous trees that had irregular or intertwined crowns. Most coniferous trees had few outliers in tree height due to their regular crown shapes. It is important to note that the stratification of the forest canopy based on CHD could reflect the scope of the applications of different data sources on the tree height estimation.

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unmanned aerial vehicle laser scanning(ULS) / terrestrial laser scanning(TLS) / ultrasonic instrument systems / tree height / forest canopy / natural secondary forests

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ZHAO Yinghui , YANG Haicheng , ZHEN Zhen. Tree height estimations for different forest canopies in natural secondary forests based on ULS, TLS and ultrasonic altimeter systems[J]. JOURNAL OF NANJING FORESTRY UNIVERSITY. 2021, 45(4): 23-32 https://doi.org/10.12302/j.issn.1000-2006.202009021

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