I'm consulting about which variables from trees can be (and has been) extracted from remote sensing data, and which variables has been used in allometric equations.
It's possible (how accurate) calculate biomass for a specific tree-specie using an allometric ecuation found in literature (GlobAllomeTree), even if the ecological variables are different from the tree in the literature and the one that I'm looking?
From various RS products, depending on spatio-temporal resolutions, the following tree variables have been estimated to calculate above-ground tree (timber) mass:
tree location/incoming solar radiation (DEM), tree height (Lidar), crown cover, living green biomass (NDVI/EVI), deciduous versus evergreen, broad-leaf versus conifer, length of growing season. Lacking so far is the classical Diameter-meter at Breast Height (DBH) used in 'allometric equations'.
Moreover, allometric equations are not tree species attributes as seems often implied, but site and, more so, management dependent.
Given the limitations implied in the above, the question is why you would want to calculate this type of above-ground tree mass? Depending on the aim, other approaches may be more promising. (our 2012 article on beech).
Hein Van Gils Thanks for your answer! sorry for the late response.
Currently, I'm in a project where i need to calculate the above-ground biomass per tree in various cities of Colombia. I only have some inventories of tree heighs and i can buy some satellite images if needed.
In a previous question i made, various researchers recommended me using OBIA with images to delineate trees, relationships between NDVI and others variables like LAI, or using species-specific allometric equations with the information that we have.
We are learning about OBIA (it's a new topic for us) to implement an algorithm that works for us, but also we are searching the others methods, and we was thinking about using the allometric equations of the data base GlboAllomeTree, looking if it's possible to use equations with only the height of trees (The only data that we have). But we are not sure the implication of this, having in count the ecological difference of the forest (where the equations were made) and the cities.
I would appreciate your recommendations about our situation
My best regards.
If you have data on the location of the trees which you inventoried (and I mean precise geo-coordinates), then simply download VHR imagery (or consult with your project partners about acquiring UAV imagery for your area of interest, photogrammetrically pre-process it to extract an Orthomosaic) of your area of interest. This could be used for your OBIA to extract tree CPA which you can then match to your tree height dataset using their locational information. Once you have these matched, you can then proceed to using a species-specific allometric model ( you can extract this from the GlobAllomeTree website). You can even model the DBH of your current trees out, extract their wood density while at it and lots more. It should be very interesting but if you encounter further problems or need more technical advice you can contact me personally on this platform. Best of luck.
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