Seeing trees from space: above-ground biomass estimates of intact and degraded montane rainforests from high-resolution optical imagery

Phua, Mui How and Ling, Zia-Yiing and David Anthony Coomes and Wilson Wong and Alexius Korom and Satoshi Tsuyuki and Keiko Ioki and Yasumasa Hirata and Hideki Saito and Gen Takao (2017) Seeing trees from space: above-ground biomass estimates of intact and degraded montane rainforests from high-resolution optical imagery. iForest-Biogeosciences and Forestry, 10. pp. 625-634. ISSN 1971-7458

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URL: https://iforest.sisef.org/abstract/?id=ifor2204-01...

Abstract

Accurately quantifying the above-ground carbon stock of tropical rainforest trees is the core component of “Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation-plus” (REDD+) projects and is important for evaluating the effects of anthropogenic global change. We used high-resolution optical imagery (IKONOS-2) to identify individual tree crowns in intact and degraded rainforests in the mountains of Northern Borneo, comparing our results with 50 ground-based plots dispersed in intact and degraded forests, within which all stems > 10 cm in diameter were measured and identified to species or genus. We used the dimensions of tree crowns detected in the imagery to estimate above-ground biomasses (AGBs) of individual trees and plots. To this purpose, preprocessed IKONOS imagery was segmented using a watershed algorithm; stem diameter values were then estimated from the cross-sectional crown areas of these trees using regression relationships obtained from ground-based measurements. Finally, we calculated the biomass of each tree (AGBT, in kg), and the AGB of plots by summation (AGBP, in Mg ha-1). Remotely sensed estimates of mean AGBT were similar to ground-based estimates in intact and degraded forests, even though small trees could not be detected from space-borne sensors. The intact and degraded forests not only had different AGB but were also dissimilar in biodiversity. A tree-centric approach to carbon mapping based on high-resolution optical imagery, could be a cheap alternative to airborne laser-scanning.

Item Type:	Article
Keyword:	Biomass Estimation , Crown Area , IKONOS-2 , Tree Community Similarity , Sabah
Subjects:	Q Science > QK Botany > QK1-989 Botany > QK1-474.5 General Including geographical distribution S Agriculture > SD Forestry > SD1-669.5 Forestry
Department:	FACULTY > Faculty of Tropical Forestry
Depositing User:	SITI AZIZAH BINTI IDRIS -
Date Deposited:	30 Aug 2022 10:43
Last Modified:	30 Aug 2022 10:43
URI:	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/34060

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