*
 

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry

*

Comparative analysis of taper models for Pinus nigra Arn. using terrestrial laser scanner acquired data

Issam Boukhris (1-2)   , Nicola Puletti (3), Christian Vonderach (4-5), Matteo Guasti (3), Said Lahssini (6), Monia Santini (2), Riccardo Valentini (1-2)

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 17, Issue 4, Pages 203-212 (2024)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor4525-017
Published: Jul 22, 2024 - Copyright © 2024 SISEF

Research Articles


Taper equations are indispensable tools for characterizing the stem profile of trees, providing valuable insights for forest management, timber inventory, and optimal assortments allocation. The recent progress in Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) has revolutionized forest inventory practices by enabling non-destructive data collection. In this study, four taper models from three different model categories were established based on point cloud data of 219 Pinus nigra trees. The taper equations fitted with TLS data were used to predict the diameter at specific stem heights and the total stem volume. The results show that among fitted models, the Max and Burkhart segmented model calibrated by the means of a mixed-effects approach provided the best estimate of the diameter at different heights and the total stem volume evaluated for different diameter at breast height (DBH) classes. In numerical terms, this model estimated the diameter and the volume with a respective overall error of 0.781 cm and 0.021 m3. The predicted profile also shows that above a relative height of 0.7, the diameter error tends to increase due to the low reliability of data collected beyond the base of the crown primarily caused by interference from branches and leaves. Nevertheless, this study shows that TLS technology presents a compelling opportunity and a promising non-destructive alternative for generating taper profiles and estimating tree volume.

  Keywords


Taper Equations, Volume Equations, Forest Mensuration, Forest Assessment, Environmental Management, Max and Burkhart, B-Splines, Random Forest, TLS

Authors’ address

(1)
Issam Boukhris 0000-0003-1629-5889
Riccardo Valentini 0000-0002-6756-5634
Department for Innovation in Biological, Agri-Food and Forest Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo (Italy)
(2)
Issam Boukhris 0000-0003-1629-5889
Monia Santini 0000-0002-8041-8241
Riccardo Valentini 0000-0002-6756-5634
CMCC Foundation - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Italy, 01100 Viterbo (Italy)
(3)
Nicola Puletti 0000-0002-2142-959X
Matteo Guasti 0000-0002-0352-0760
CREA, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, v.le Santa Margherita 80, IT-52100 Arezzo (Italy)
(4)
Christian Vonderach 0000-0002-2653-6407
Forest Research Institute Baden-Württemberg, 79100, Freiburg (Germany)
(5)
Christian Vonderach 0000-0002-2653-6407
Chair of Forest Growth and Dendroecology, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacherstaße 4, 79106 Freiburg (Germany)
(6)
Said Lahssini 0000-0003-1986-8240
Department of Forest Development, National School of Forest Engineers, 11000 Salé (Morocco)

Corresponding author

 
Issam Boukhris
issam.boukhris@unitus.it

Citation

Boukhris I, Puletti N, Vonderach C, Guasti M, Lahssini S, Santini M, Valentini R (2024). Comparative analysis of taper models for Pinus nigra Arn. using terrestrial laser scanner acquired data. iForest 17: 203-212. - doi: 10.3832/ifor4525-017

Academic Editor

Angelo Nolè

Paper history

Received: Nov 17, 2023
Accepted: Jun 25, 2024

First online: Jul 22, 2024
Publication Date: Aug 31, 2024
Publication Time: 0.90 months

Breakdown by View Type

(Waiting for server response...)

Article Usage

Total Article Views: 105
(from publication date up to now)

Breakdown by View Type
HTML Page Views: 0
Abstract Page Views: 0
PDF Downloads: 46
Citation/Reference Downloads: 0
XML Downloads: 59

Web Metrics
Days since publication: 81
Overall contacts: 105
Avg. contacts per week: 9.07

Article Citations

Article citations are based on data periodically collected from the Clarivate Web of Science web site
(last update: Nov 2020)

(No citations were found up to date. Please come back later)


 

Publication Metrics

by Dimensions ©

Articles citing this article

List of the papers citing this article based on CrossRef Cited-by.

 
(1)
Baker ER, Peña J-M, Jayamohan J, Jé A (2018)
Mechanistic models versus machine learning, a fight worth fighting for the biological community? Biology Letters 14 (5): 20170660.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(2)
Bernetti G, Cantiani M, Hellrigl B (1969)
Ricerche alsometriche e dendrometriche sulle pinete di pino nero e laricio della Toscana [Alsometric and dendrometric research on the black pine and larch pine forests of Tuscany]. L’Italia Forestale e Montana 26 (1): 10-40. [in Italian]
Gscholar
(3)
Bottalico F, Chirici G, Travaglini D (2012)
The forest management of Vallombrosa from 1876 to 2006: Analysis of forest maps. L’Italia Forestale e Montana 67 (6): Art. 6.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(4)
Bronisz K, Zasada M (2020)
Correction: Bronisz K. and Zasada M., Comparison of fixed- and mixed-effects approaches to taper modeling for Scots pine in West Poland. Forests 2019, 10, 975. Forests 11 (4): 437.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(5)
Brunet-Navarro P, Jochheim H, Muys B (2017)
The effect of increasing lifespan and recycling rate on carbon storage in wood products from theoretical model to application for the European wood sector. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 22 (8): 1193-1205.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(6)
Calders K, Newnham G, Burt A, Murphy S, Raumonen P, Herold M, Culvenor D, Avitabile V, Disney M, Armston J, Kaasalainen M (2015)
Nondestructive estimates of above-ground biomass using terrestrial laser scanning. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 6 (2): 198-208.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(7)
Calders K, Verbeeck H, Burt A, Origo N, Nightingale J, Malhi Y, Wilkes P, Raumonen P, Bunce RGH, Disney M (2022)
Laser scanning reveals potential underestimation of biomass carbon in temperate forest. Ecological Solutions and Evidence 3 (4): e12197.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(8)
Cao QV (2009)
Calibrating a segmented taper equation with two diameter measurements. Southern Journal of Applied Forestry 33 (2): 58-61.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(9)
Cao QV, Wang J (2011)
Calibrating fixed- and mixed-effects taper equations. Forest Ecology and Management 262 (4): 671-673.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(10)
Choudhry H, O’Kelly G (2018)
Precision forestry: a revolution in the woods. McKinsey & Co., Singapore, pp. 1-11.
Online | Gscholar
(11)
Comets E, Lavenu A, Lavielle M (2017)
Parameter estimation in nonlinear mixed effect models using saemix, an R Implementation of the SAEM algorithm. Journal of Statistical Software 80 (3): 1-41.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(12)
Dálya LB, Capretti P, Ghelardini L, Jankovsky L (2019)
Assessment of presence and distribution of Armillaria and Heterobasidion root rot fungi in the forest of Vallombrosa (Apennines Mountains, Italy) after severe windstorm damage. iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, 12 (1): 118-124.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(13)
Enescu C, De Rigo D, Caudullo G, Durrant T (2016)
Pinus nigra in Europe: distribution, habitat, usage and threats. In: “European Atlas of Forest Tree Species” (San-Miguel-Ayanz J, De Rigo D, Caudullo G, Houston Durrant T eds). EU Publication Office, Luxembourg, pp. 126-127.
Gscholar
(14)
Erber G, Gollob C, Krassnitzer R, Nothdurft A, Stampfer K (2022)
Stem-level bucking pattern optimization in chainsaw bucking based on terrestrial laser scanning data. Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering 43 (2): 287-301.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(15)
Fardusi MJ, Chianucci F, Barbati A (2017)
Concept to practice of geospatial-information tools to assist forest management and planning under precision forestry framework: a review. Annals of Silvicultural Research 41 (1): 3-14.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(16)
Garber SM, Maguire DA (2003)
Modeling stem taper of three central Oregon species using nonlinear mixed effects models and autoregressive error structures. Forest Ecology and Management 179 (1): 507-522.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(17)
Gordon A (1983)
Comparison of compatible polynomial taper equations. New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science 13 (2): 146-155. -
Online | Gscholar
(18)
Gómez-García E, Crecente-Campo F, Diéguez-Aranda U (2013)
Selection of mixed-effects parameters in a variable-exponent taper equation for birch trees in northwestern Spain. Annals of Forest Science 70 (7): 707-715.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(19)
Hansen E, Rahlf J, Astrup R, Gobakken T (2023)
Taper, volume, and bark thickness models for spruce, pine, and birch in Norway. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 38 (6): 413-428.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(20)
Isenburg M (2017)
LAStools - Efficient LiDAR processing software. Version 141017 academic, web site.
Online | Gscholar
(21)
Jiang L, Liu R (2011)
Segmented taper equations with crown ratio and stand density for Dahurian larch (Larix gmelinii) in Northeastern China. Journal of Forestry Research 22 (3): 347-352.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(22)
Kovácsová P, Antalová M (2010)
Precision forestry-definition and technologies. Sumarski List 34 (11-12): 603-610.
Gscholar
(23)
Kozak A, Smith JHG (1993)
Standards for evaluating taper estimating systems. The Forestry Chronicle 69 (4): 438-444.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(24)
Kublin E, Breidenbach J, Kändler G (2013)
A flexible stem taper and volume prediction method based on mixed-effects B-spline regression. European Journal of Forest Research 132 (5): 983-997.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(25)
Kublin E, Breidenbach J, Vonderach C (2023)
TapeR: flexible tree taper curves based on semiparametric mixed models (0.5.2). Computer software, web site.
Online | Gscholar
(26)
Kuzelka K, Marušák R (2014)
Comparison of selected splines for stem form modeling: a case study in Norway spruce. Annals of Forest Research 57 (1): 137-148
CrossRef | Gscholar
(27)
Leites LP, Robinson AP (2004)
Improving taper equations of loblolly pine with crown dimensions in a mixed-effects modeling framework. Forest Science 50 (2): 204-212.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(28)
Liang X, Hyyppä J (2013)
Automatic stem mapping by merging several terrestrial laser scans at the feature and decision levels. Sensors 13 (2): 1614-1634.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(29)
Liang X, Kankare V, Hyyppä J, Wang Y, Kukko A, Haggrén H, Yu X, Kaartinen H, Jaakkola A, Guan F, Holopainen M, Vastaranta M (2016)
Terrestrial laser scanning in forest inventories. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 115: 63-77.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(30)
Liu G, Wang J, Dong P, Chen Y, Liu Z (2018)
Estimating individual tree height and diameter at breast height (DBH) from Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) data at plot level. Forests 9 (7): 398.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(31)
Maas H-G, Bienert A, Scheller S, Keane E (2008)
Automatic forest inventory parameter determination from terrestrial laser scanner data. International Journal of Remote Sensing 29 (5): 1579-1593.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(32)
Marchi M, Scotti R, Rinaldini G, Cantiani P (2020)
Taper function for Pinus nigra in Central Italy: is a more complex computational system required? Forests 11 (4): 405.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(33)
Max T, Burkhart H (1976)
Segmented polynomial regression applied to taper equations. Forest Science 22: 283-289.
Gscholar
(34)
McTague JP, Weiskittel A (2020)
Evolution, history, and use of stem taper equations: a review of their development, application, and implementation. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 51 (2): 210-235.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(35)
Mäkelä A, Valentine HT (2020)
Applications and future outlook. In: “Models of Tree and Stand Dynamics: Theory, Formulation and Application” (Mäkelä A, Valentine HT eds). Springer International Publishing, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 245-266.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(36)
Nunes MH, Görgens EB (2016)
Artificial intelligence procedures for tree taper estimation within a complex vegetation mosaic in Brazil. PLoS One 11 (5): e0154738.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(37)
Olivera Farias A, Visser R (2016)
Using the harvester on-board computer capability to move towards precision forestry. New Zealand Journal of Forestry 60: 3-7.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(38)
Ozçelik R, Brooks JR (2012)
Compatible volume and taper models for economically important tree species of Turkey. Annals of Forest Science 69 (1): 105-118.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(39)
Pang L, Ma Y, Sharma RP, Rice S, Song X, Fu L (2016)
Developing an improved parameter estimation method for the segmented taper equation through combination of constrained two-dimensional optimum seeking and least square regression. Forests 7 (9): 194.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(40)
Pedregosa F, Varoquaux G, Gramfort A, Michel V, Thirion B, Grisel O, Blondel M, Prettenhofer P, Weiss R, Dubourg V, Vanderplas J, Passos A, Cournapeau D, Brucher M, Perrot M, Duchesnay E (2011)
Scikit-learn: machine learning in Python. Journal of Machine Learning Research 12 (85): 2825-2830.
Gscholar
(41)
Pinheiro J, Bates D, DebRoy S, Sarkar D, Heisterkamp S, Willigen BV, Ranke J, R Core Team (2023)
nlme: linear and nonlinear mixed effects models. Version 3:1-162, web site.
Online | Gscholar
(42)
Pitkänen TP, Raumonen P, Kangas A (2019)
Measuring stem diameters with TLS in boreal forests by complementary fitting procedure. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 147: 294-306.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(43)
Puletti N, Grotti M, Scotti R (2019)
Evaluating the eccentricities of poplar stem profiles with terrestrial laser scanning. Forests 10 (3): 239.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(44)
R Core Team (2022)
R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.
Online | Gscholar
(45)
Saarinen N, Kankare V, Pyörälä J, Yrttimaa T, Liang X, Wulder MA, Holopainen M, Hyyppä J, Vastaranta M (2019)
Assessing the effects of sample size on parametrizing a taper curve equation and the resultant stem-volume estimates. Forests 10 (10): 848.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(46)
Salekin S, Catalán CH, Boczniewicz D, Phiri D, Morgenroth J, Meason DF, Mason EG (2021)
Global tree taper modelling: a review of applications, methods, functions, and their parameters. Forests 12 (7): 913.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(47)
Sun Y, Liang X, Liang Z, Welham C, Li W (2016)
Deriving merchantable volume in poplar through a localized tapering function from non-destructive terrestrial laser scanning. Forests 7 (4): 87.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(48)
Thiel D, Nagy L, Beierkuhnlein C, Huber G, Jentsch A, Konnert M, Kreyling J (2012)
Uniform drought and warming responses in Pinus nigra provenances despite specific overall performances. Forest Ecology and Management 270: 200-208.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(49)
Weiskittel AR, Kershaw JA, Vanclay JK (2011)
Individual-tree static equations. In: “Forest Growth and Yield Modeling”. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., Hoboken, NJ, USA, pp. 115-137.
CrossRef | Gscholar
(50)
Yang S-I, Burkhart HE (2020)
Robustness of parametric and nonparametric fitting procedures of tree-stem taper with alternative definitions for validation data. Journal of Forestry 118 (6): 576-583.
CrossRef | Gscholar
 

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. More info