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Allometric equations for integrating remote sensing imagery into forest monitoring programmes

Jucker T 1 , Caspersen J 2 , Chave J 3 , Antin C 4 , Barbier N 4 , Bongers F 5 Show all authors , Dalponte M 6 , van Ewijk KY 7 , Forrester DI 8 , Haeni M 9 , Higgins SI 10 , Holdaway RJ 11 , Iida Y 12 , Lorimer C 13 , Marshall PL 14 , Momo S 4 , Moncrieff GR 15 , Ploton P 4 , Poorter L 5 , Rahman KA 16 , Schlund M 17 , Sonké B 18 , Sterck FJ 5 , Trugman AT 19 , Usoltsev VA 20 , Vanderwel MC 21 , Waldner P 9 , Wedeux BM 1 , Wirth C 22 , Wöll H 23 , Woods M 24 , Xiang W 25 , Zimmermann NE 9 , Coomes DA 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
  • 2 Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B3, Canada
  • 3 Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR5174, CNRS/Université Paul Sabatier Bâtiment 4R1, 118 route de Narbonne, Toulouse, F-31062, France
  • 4 Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR AMAP, Montpellier, France
  • 5 Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, AA Wageningen, 6700, the Netherlands
  • 6 Department of Sustainable Agro-ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione E. Mach, Via E. Mach 1, San Michele all'Adige, 38010, Italy
  • 7 Department of Geography and Planning, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
  • 8 Chair of Silviculture, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Freiburg University, Tennenbacherstr. 4, Freiburg, 79108, Germany
  • 9 Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland
  • 10 Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9016, New Zealand
  • 11 Landcare Research, PO Box 69040, Lincoln, 7640, New Zealand
  • 12 Kyushu Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Kumamoto, 860-0862, Japan
  • 13 Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
  • 14 Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
  • 15 Fynbos Node, South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, Kirstenbosch Gardens, Private Bag X7, Rhodes Drive, Claremont, Cape Town, 7735, South Africa
  • 16 Forest Research Institute of Malaysia, Kepong 52109, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 17 Department of Earth Observation, Friedrich-Schiller University, Loebdergraben 32, Jena, 07743, Germany
  • 18 Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d'Ecologie, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon
  • 19 Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA
  • 20 Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ural branch), Russia and Ural State Forest Engineering University, Yekaterinburg, 620100, Russia
  • 21 Department of Biology, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Pkwy, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada
  • 22 Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
  • 23 Conservation and Natural Resources Management, Sommersbergseestr. 291, Bad Aussee, A-8990, Austria
  • 24 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, North Bay, ON, P1A 4L7, Canada
  • 25 Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China
Glob Chang Biol, 2017 Jan;23(1):177-190.
PMID: 27381364 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13388

Abstract

Remote sensing is revolutionizing the way we study forests, and recent technological advances mean we are now able - for the first time - to identify and measure the crown dimensions of individual trees from airborne imagery. Yet to make full use of these data for quantifying forest carbon stocks and dynamics, a new generation of allometric tools which have tree height and crown size at their centre are needed. Here, we compile a global database of 108753 trees for which stem diameter, height and crown diameter have all been measured, including 2395 trees harvested to measure aboveground biomass. Using this database, we develop general allometric models for estimating both the diameter and aboveground biomass of trees from attributes which can be remotely sensed - specifically height and crown diameter. We show that tree height and crown diameter jointly quantify the aboveground biomass of individual trees and find that a single equation predicts stem diameter from these two variables across the world's forests. These new allometric models provide an intuitive way of integrating remote sensing imagery into large-scale forest monitoring programmes and will be of key importance for parameterizing the next generation of dynamic vegetation models.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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