A Conventional Cruise and Felled-Tree Validation of Individual Tree Diameter, Height and Volume Derived from Airborne Laser Scanning Data of a Loblolly Pine (P. taeda) Stand in Eastern Texas

Abstract

Globally, remotely sensed data and, in particular, Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS), are being assessed by the forestry industry for their ability to acquire accurate forest inventories at an individual-tree level. This pilot study compares an inventory derived using the ForestView® biometrics analysis system to traditional cruise measurements and felled tree measurements for 139 Pinus taeda sp. (loblolly pine) trees in eastern Texas. The Individual Tree Detection (ITD) accuracy of ForestView® was 97.1%. In terms of tree height accuracy, ForestView® results had an overall lower mean bias and RMSE than the traditional cruise techniques when both datasets were compared to the felled tree data (LiDAR: mean bias = 1.1 cm, RMSE = 41.2 cm; Cruise: mean bias = 13.8 cm, RMSE = 57.5 cm). No significant difference in mean tree height was observed between the felled tree, cruise, and LiDAR measurements (p-value = 0.58). ForestView-derived DBH exhibited a −2.1 cm bias compared to felled-tree measurements. This study demonstrates the utility of this newly emerging ITD software as an approach to characterize forest structure on similar coniferous forests landscapes.