New publication: Forest inventories by LiDAR data: A comparison of single tree segmentation and metric-based methods for inventories of a heterogeneous temperate forest

New publication: Forest inventories by LiDAR data: A comparison of single tree segmentation and metric-based methods for inventories of a heterogeneous temperate forest

m

July 16, 2015

A new paper led by the Dept. of Remote Sensing presents an in-depth insight into practical implementations of a fullwave LiDAR survey for deriving essential forest structural variables on landscape scale. Carried out in the entire territory of Bavarian Forest National Park in Germany, this work evaluated two fundamentally-different methods of forest inventory that use LiDAR data at the landscape level: the single tree segment-based method and an area-based method. A set of structural forest attributes were modeled by these methods with a conventional forest inventory of the highly heterogeneous forest landscape which partially includes stands affected by severe natural disturbances.

Methodology adopted to the study

The single tree-based algorithm delivered highly reliable estimates of variables and their uncertainty for a set of forest structural attributes that are of interest in forest inventories at the landscape scale. This was also well correlated with the results obtained form traditional metric-based LiDAR models as well as with those form field-based forest inventory. Based on the obtained results, this work recommends LiDAR forest inventories at the landscape scale in both heterogeneous commercial forests and large protected areas in the central European temperate sites.

Latifi, H., Fassnacht, F.E., Müller, J., Tharani, A., Dech, S., Heurich, M. 2015. Forest inventories by LiDAR data: A comparison of single tree segmentation and metric-based methods for inventories of a heterogenuous temperate forest. Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf. doi:10.1016/j.jag.2015.06.008

 

 

you may also like:

Strengthening Scientific Networks in Côte d’Ivoire

Strengthening Scientific Networks in Côte d’Ivoire

Last week, two of our EORC members (Dr. Insa Otte and Dr. Michael Thiel) had the opportunity to visit several research institutions in Côte d’Ivoire—both in Abidjan and at the Lamto Ecological Research Station. During this visit, they gained valuable insights into the...

Field Visit to the Lamto Research Station of Côte d’Ivoire

Field Visit to the Lamto Research Station of Côte d’Ivoire

Two of our EORC staff members (Dr. Michael Thiel, Dr. Insa Otte) had the opportunity to visit the Lamto Research Station, located in the forest–savanna transition zone of central Côte d'Ivoire. Established in the 1960s, Lamto is one of West Africa’s most prominent...

new staff member: Sarah Leibrock

new staff member: Sarah Leibrock

Sarah joined the EORC in April 2025 as a PhD student in the DFG project  “SOS: Serverless-Scientific-Computing and -Engineering for Earth Observation and Sustainability Research”. After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Biology at the University of...