Abstract
The objective of this research is to test and evaluate hyperspectral and lidar data to derive information on tree species dominance and above ground biomass in the Białowieża Forest in Poland. This forest is threatened by climate change, fire, bark beetles attacks, and logging, with changes in species composition and dominance. In this conservation valuable area, the monitoring of forest resources is thus critical.Results indicate that vegetation indices from hyperspectral data can support species dominance detection: using a Classification and Regression Trees algorithm the three main plot types (dominated by Deciduous, Spruce, and Pines species) were classified with an Overall Accuracy > 0.9. The accuracy decreased when a ‘Mixed’ group was added to account for very heterogeneous plots, and plots dominated by Spruce were not correctly detected. Hyperspectral vegetation indices were also used to estimate the level of species dominance in the forest plots, using a Multivariate Multiple Linear Regression model; the obtained accuracy varied according to groups, being higher for Deciduous (R2 = 0.87), compared to Pines (R2 = 0.61), and to Spruce-dominated plots (R2 = 0.37).Lidar data were employed to estimate above ground biomass, using an exponential regression model; overall the R2 resulted equal to 0.66 but ranged from 0.57 to 0.78 when considering subgroups according to species dominance; the addition of hyperspectral vegetation indices improved the result only for Pines.The illustrated methods provide a reliable description of important forest characteristics and simplify resource monitoring, supporting local authorities to address the challenges imposed by climate change and other forest threats.
Highlights
Active conservation and management is a requirement for maintaining forest resources, and linking knowledge to action helps to face environmental change, providing conservation solutions
Changes in forest species composition may results in changes in the whole ecosystem and its biodiversity, as evidenced in eastern United States after that bark beetles altered the forest soil chemistry (Arthur et al, 2017); or in China where changes in species composition and community structure caused impacts on above ground biomass and soil carbon density (Hu et al, 2015); and in the Białowieża Forest in Poland, where different intensity of stand management practices impacted birds (Czeszczewik et al, 2015) and beetles (Jaworski et al, 2019) species composition and abundance
Species-level and forest type information is critical for sustainable forest management (SFM), the main approach in forest policy in Europe, that is assessed by various indicators including forest type and species/dominance information (Barbati et al, 2014)
Summary
Active conservation and management is a requirement for maintaining forest resources, and linking knowledge to action helps to face environmental change, providing conservation solutions. To this end, resource monitoring and robust ecological data are needed (Larson et al, 2013). Changes in forest species composition may results in changes in the whole ecosystem and its biodiversity, as evidenced in eastern United States after that bark beetles altered the forest soil chemistry (Arthur et al, 2017); or in China where changes in species composition and community structure caused impacts on above ground biomass and soil carbon density (Hu et al, 2015); and in the Białowieża Forest in Poland, where different intensity of stand management practices impacted birds (Czeszczewik et al, 2015) and beetles (Jaworski et al, 2019) species composition and abundance. In European forests increased extreme weather events, such as prolonged drought or storms and floods, have clear impacts on carbon sequestration capacity (Lindner et al, 2010)
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