Classification of Tropical Forest Tree Species Using Meter-Scale Image Data

Accurate classification of tropical tree species is critical for understanding forest habitat, biodiversity, forest composition, biomass, and the role of trees in climate variability through carbon uptake. The aim of this study is to establish an accurate classification procedure for tropical tree species, specifically testing the feasibility of WorldView-3 (WV-3) multispectral imagery for this task. The specific study site is a defined arboretum within a well-known tropical forest research location in Costa Rica (La Selva Biological Station). An object-based classification is the basis for the analysis to classify six selected tree species. A combination of pre-processed WV-3 bands were inputs to the classification, and an edge segmentation process defined multi-pixel-scale tree canopies. WorldView-3 bands in the Green, Red, Red Edge, and Near-Infrared 2, particularly when incorporated in two specialized vegetation indices, provide high discrimination among the selected species. Classification results yield an accuracy of 85.37%, with minimal errors of commission (7.89%) and omission (14.63%). Shadowing in the satellite imagery had a significant effect on segmentation accuracy (identifying single-species canopy tops) and on classification. The methodology presented provides a path to better characterization of tropical forest species distribution and overall composition for improving biomass studies in a tropical environment.

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Tropical Tree Species 3D Modelling and Classification Based on LiDAR Technology

Recent Advances in 3D Imaging, Modeling, and Reconstruction - Advances in Multimedia and Interactive Technologies ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-5294-9.ch001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-22

Author(s):

Panagiotis Barmpoutis ◽

Tania Stathaki ◽

Jonathan Lloyd ◽

Magna Soelma Bessera de Moura

Keyword(s):

Tree Species ◽

Laser Scanning ◽

Tensor Decomposition ◽

Singular Values ◽

Point Clouds ◽

Tropical Tree ◽

Species Classification ◽

Tropical Tree Species ◽

Sensing Technology ◽

3D Information

Over the last decade or so, laser scanning technology has become an increasingly popular and important tool for forestry inventory, enabling accurate capture of 3D information in a fast and environmentally friendly manner. To this end, the authors propose here a system for tropical tree species classification based on 3D scans of LiDAR sensing technology. In order to exploit the interrelated patterns of trees, skeleton representations of tree point clouds are extracted, and their structures are divided into overlapping equal-sized 3D segments. Subsequently, they represent them as third-order sparse structure tensors setting the value of skeleton coordinates equal to one. Based on the higher-order tensor decomposition of each sparse segment, they 1) estimate the mode-n singular values extracting intra-correlations of tree branches and 2) model tropical trees as linear dynamical systems extracting appearance information and dynamics. The proposed methodology was evaluated in tropical tree species and specifically in a dataset consisting of 26 point clouds of common Caatinga dry-forest trees.

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Photosynthesis–nitrogen relationships in tropical forest tree species as affected by soil phosphorus availability: a controlled environment study

Functional Plant Biology ◽

10.1071/fp13278 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 41 (8) ◽

pp. 820 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Keith J. Bloomfield ◽

Graham D. Farquhar ◽

Jon Lloyd

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forest ◽

Tree Species ◽

Tropical Trees ◽

Leaf Nitrogen ◽

Phosphorus Availability ◽

Tropical Tree ◽

P Availability ◽

Soil P ◽

Tropical Tree Species ◽

Soil P Availability

Tropical soils are often characterised by low phosphorus availability and tropical forest trees typically exhibit lower area-based rates of photosynthesis (Aa) for a given area-based leaf nitrogen concentration ([N]a) compared with plants growing in higher-latitude, N-limited ecosystems. Nevertheless, to date, very few studies have assessed the effects of P deprivation per se on Aa ↔ [N]a relationships in tropical trees. Our study investigated the effect of reduced soil P availability on light-saturated Aa and related leaf traits of seven Australian tropical tree species. We addressed the following questions: (1) Do contrasting species exhibit inherent differences in nutrient partitioning and morphology? (2) Does P deprivation lead to a change in the nature of the Aa ↔ [N]a relationship? (3) Does P deprivation lead to an alteration in leaf nitrogen levels or N allocation within the leaf? Applying a mixed effects model, we found that for these Australian tropical tree species, removal of P from the nutrient solution decreased area-based photosynthetic capacity (Amax,a) by 18% and reduced the slope of the Amax,a ↔ [N]a relationship and differences among species accounted for around 30% of response variation. Despite greater N allocation to chlorophyll, photosynthetic N use efficiency was significantly reduced in low-P plants. Collectively, our results support the view that low soil P availability can alter photosynthesis–nitrogen relationships in tropical trees.

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Tracking Seed Fates of Tropical Tree Species: Evidence for Seed Caching in a Tropical Forest in North-East India

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0134658 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. e0134658 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Swati Sidhu ◽

Aparajita Datta

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forest ◽

Tree Species ◽

Tropical Tree ◽

Seed Caching ◽

North East India ◽

Tropical Tree Species ◽

North East ◽

Seed Fates

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Pixel- and object-based multispectral classification of forest tree species from small unmanned aerial vehicles

Journal of Unmanned Vehicle Systems ◽

10.1139/juvs-2017-0022 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 195-211 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Steven E. Franklin

Keyword(s):

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽

Tree Species ◽

Forest Inventory ◽

Classification Accuracy ◽

Forest Tree ◽

Tree Crown ◽

Species Classification ◽

Aerial Vehicles ◽

Object Based

Forest inventory, monitoring, and assessment requires accurate tree species identification and mapping. Recent experiences with multispectral data from small fixed-wing and rotary blade unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) suggest a role for this technology in the emerging paradigm of enhanced forest inventory (EFI). In this paper, pixel-based and object-based image analysis (OBIA) methods were compared in UAV-based tree species classification of nine commercial tree species in mature eastern Ontario mixedwood forests. Unsupervised clustering and supervised classification of tree crown pixels yielded approximately 50%–60% classification accuracy overall; OBIA with image segmentation to delineate tree crowns and machine learning yielded up to 80% classification accuracy overall. Spectral response patterns and tree crown shape and geometric differences were interpreted in context of their ability to separate tree species of interest with these classification methods. Accuracy assessment was based on field-based forest inventory tree species identification. The paper provides a brief summary of future research issues that will influence the growth of this geomatics innovation in forest tree species classification and forest inventory.

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An estimate of the number of tropical tree species

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1423147112 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 112 (24) ◽

pp. 7472-7477 ◽

Cited By ~ 168

Author(s):

J. W. Ferry Slik ◽

Víctor Arroyo-Rodríguez ◽

Shin-Ichiro Aiba ◽

Patricia Alvarez-Loayza ◽

Luciana F. Alves ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Tree Species ◽

Forest Tree ◽

Tropical Tree ◽

Tropical Tree Species ◽

As Species ◽

Tree Inventory ◽

Minimum Number ◽

Closed Canopy ◽

High Species Richness

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher’s alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼40,000 and ∼53,000, i.e., at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼19,000–25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼4,500–6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness estimates of tree-dependent taxa.

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Temperature response of CO2 exchange in three tropical tree species

Functional Plant Biology ◽

10.1071/fp15320 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 43 (5) ◽

pp. 468 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Martijn Slot ◽

Milton N. Garcia ◽

Klaus Winter

Keyword(s):

Tropical Forest ◽

Tree Species ◽

Temperature Response ◽

Carbon Fluxes ◽

Co2 Exchange ◽

Tropical Tree ◽

Membrane Properties ◽

Complete Suppression ◽

Tropical Tree Species ◽

Successional Species

Tropical forests play a critical role in the global carbon cycle, but our limited understanding of the physiological sensitivity of tropical forest trees to environmental factors complicates predictions of tropical carbon fluxes in a changing climate. We determined the short-term temperature response of leaf photosynthesis and respiration of seedlings of three tropical tree species from Panama. For one of the species net CO2 exchange was also measured in situ. Dark respiration of all species increased linearly – not exponentially – over a ~30°C temperature range. The early-successional species Ficus insipida Willd. and Ochroma pyramidale (Cav. ex Lam.) Urb. had higher temperature optima for photosynthesis (Topt) and higher photosynthesis rates at Topt than the late-successional species Calophyllum longifolium Willd. The decrease in photosynthesis above Topt could be assigned, in part, to observed temperature-stimulated photorespiration and decreasing stomatal conductance (gS), with unmeasured processes such as respiration in the light, Rubisco deactivation, and changing membrane properties probably playing important additional roles, particularly at very high temperatures. As temperature increased above Topt, gS of laboratory-measured leaves first decreased, followed by an increase at temperatures >40−45°C. In contrast, gS of canopy leaves of F. insipida in the field continued to decrease with increasing temperature, causing complete suppression of photosynthesis at ~45°C, whereas photosynthesis in the laboratory did not reach zero until leaf temperature was ~50°C. Models parameterised with laboratory-derived data should be validated against field observations when they are used to predict tropical forest carbon fluxes.

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An efficient and rapid DNA minipreparation procedure suitable for PCR/SSR and RAPD analyses in tropical forest tree species

Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology ◽

10.1590/s1516-89132009000500020 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 52 (5) ◽

pp. 1217-1224 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Ana Lilia Alzate-Marin ◽

Marcela Corbo Guidugli ◽

Hilda Hildebrand Soriani ◽

Carlos Alberto Martinez ◽

Moacyr Antônio Mestriner

Keyword(s):

Tree Species ◽

Leaf Tissue ◽

Isoamyl Alcohol ◽

Forest Tree ◽

Tropical Tree ◽

Proteinase K ◽

Hymenaea Courbaril ◽

Tropical Tree Species ◽

Modified Method ◽

Copaifera Langsdorffii

An efficient and rapid DNA minipreparation modified method for frozen samples was developed for five tropical tree species: Copaifera langsdorffii, Hymenaea courbaril, Eugenia uniflora, Tabebuia roseo alba and Cariniana estrellensis. This procedure that dispenses the use of liquid nitrogen, phenol and the addition of proteinase K, is an adaptation of the CTAB-based DNA extraction method. The modifications included the use of PVP to eliminate the polyphenols, only one chloroform-isoamyl alcohol step and the addition of RNase immediately after extraction with chloroform. The yields of the DNA samples ranged from 25.7 to 42.1 µg from 100 mg leaf tissue. The DNA samples extracted by this method were successfully used for PCR (SSR and RAPD) analyses in these five and other twelve tropical tree species.

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