Silvicultural experiment assessment using lidar data collected from an unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

Collecting field data in silvicultural experiments can be challenging and time-consuming. Alternatively, unmanned aerial vehicles using laser scanners (UAV-lidar) can be used for cost-effective data collection in forest stands. This work aims to assess the capability of UAV-lidar to estimate biophysical forest attributes in silvicultural experiments. The showcase experiment refers to the IMPAC II (Intensive Management Practices Assessment Center II), a long-term project of 24 plots aiming to assess the effects of fertilization and weed control on forest growth and nutrient cycling in past and ongoing silvicultural treatments in a second rotation of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation at age 12 years. Treatment performances were assessed based on four biometric attributes related to forest productivity: Growing stock biomass (Mg ha−1), stem volume (m3 ha−1), dominant height (m), and leaf area index (LAI, m2 m−2). We used the area-based approach (ABA) and multiple linear models to characterize these forest attributes in the different silvicultural treatments and use their predictions to run the experiment analysis. Two groups of ALS-derived metrics were tested in the modeling, traditional metrics and a novel group of metrics based on plant area density (PAD) distribution. Models using PAD-based metrics increased the correlation between observed and predicted values (R2) from 0.27–0.40 to 0.50–0.85 when compared to the same models using traditional metrics, while the relative root mean square errors (RMSE%) of the predictions were reduced from 6–18% to 4–12%. Experiment analysis using UAV-lidar data and PAD-based model predictors led to the same results as those using field observations: i) fertilization was the most effective treatment for enhancing stand attributes, especially in terms of biomass, stem volume, and LAI; ii) weed control alone provided marginal improvements in the stands; iii) actively retreating stands in both first and second rotation led to increased growth when compared to the carryover effects. UAV-lidar using PAD-based metrics was effective in characterizing enhanced silvicultural treatments and might benefit studies involving understory assessment.