Based on the discussion of relationships between thinning and wind damage, and published information, a method for estimating risk ratios of wind damage was developed. Estimations of risk-ratio for Pinus thunbergii tr...Based on the discussion of relationships between thinning and wind damage, and published information, a method for estimating risk ratios of wind damage was developed. Estimations of risk-ratio for Pinus thunbergii trees and stands were de-duced from stem bending theory and coefficients characterizing wind profile, distribution of branches and optical stratification po-rosity. The results showed that if the value of constant b in the branch distribution-model equals the attenuation coefficient s in the wind profile model for a single tree crown, then the parameter H/D1.33 (height over stem diameter cubed) can be used to compare and evaluate the risk-ratio of wind damage for individual trees. The same method can be applied to stands using the coefficient of wind profile in a stand, i.e. attenuation coefficient , the coefficient from distributions of optical stratification porosity, i.e. extinction coefficient , and the parameter D1.33. The application of parameter H/D1.33 and the process of determining risk ra-tios of wind damage for stands were also given in the paper.展开更多
The Zagros forests are a treasure of valuable oak forests, but they have been severely degraded from long-term misuse. Geographic information systems （GIS） and multi-criteria decision analysis （MCDA） have been inc...The Zagros forests are a treasure of valuable oak forests, but they have been severely degraded from long-term misuse. Geographic information systems （GIS） and multi-criteria decision analysis （MCDA） have been increasingly used to improve the management of vulnerable ecosystems to prevent further degradation and increase the sustainability of land use. This study presents a methodology to assess land suitability using remote sensing （RS） to obtain wall-to-wall data for the calculations, GIS to analyze the data, and MCDA to rank alternative land uses. The criteria and subcriteria affecting the suitability of land for different uses were identified and weighted using an analytic hierarchy process. Variables used as subcriteria were assessed using satellite data and other sources of information such as existing maps and field surveys. Numerical values for the subcriteria were classified, and each class was given a priority rating according to expert judgments. Based on the ratings and weights of the subcriteria, a priority map was created for each land use using the weighted linear combination method. The priority maps for different land uses were overlaid to obtain a preliminary land use map, which often indicated several simultaneous land uses for the same location. The preliminary map was further edited by removing unrealistic, mutually exclusive land-use combinations. The study tested and demonstrated the potential of integrating RS, G1S and MCDA techniques for solving complicated land allocation problems in forested regions using a scientifically sound and practical approach for efficient and sustainable allocation of forestland for different uses.展开更多
This study aimed to demonstrate change in spatial correlation between Korean pine （Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc.） and three rare species, and change in spatial distribution of four species in response to a range o...This study aimed to demonstrate change in spatial correlation between Korean pine （Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc.） and three rare species, and change in spatial distribution of four species in response to a range of selective cutting intensities. We sampled three plots of mixed Korean pine and broad-leaf forest in Lushuihe Forestry Bureau of Jilin province, China. Plot 1, a control, was unlogged Korean pine broad-leaf forest. In plots 2 and 3, Korean pine was selectively cut at 15 and 30 % intensity, respectively, in the 1970s. Other species were rarely cut. We used point-pattern analysis to research the spatial distributions of four tree species and quantify spatial correlations between Korean pine and the other three species, Amur linden （Tilia amurensis Rupr.）, Manchurian ash （Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr.）, and Mongolian oak （Quercus mongolica Fisch.） in all three plots. The results of the study show that selective cutting at 15 % intensity did not significantly change either the species spatial patterns or the spatial correlation between Korean pine and broadleaf species. Selective cutting at 30 % intensity slightly affected the growth of Korean pine and valuable species in forest communities, and the effect was considered nondestructive and recoverable.展开更多
Forest losses or gains have long been recognized as critical processes modulating the carbon flux between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Timely, accurate and spatially explicit information on forest disturbance and...Forest losses or gains have long been recognized as critical processes modulating the carbon flux between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Timely, accurate and spatially explicit information on forest disturbance and recovery history is required for assessing the effectiveness of existing forest management. The major objectives of our research focused on testing the mapping efficacy of the vegetation change tracker （VCT） model over a forested area in China. We used a new version of VCT algorithm built upon the Landsat time series stacks （LTSS）. The LTSS consisted of yearly image acquisitions to map forest disturbance history from 1987 to 2011 over the Ning-Zhen Mountains, Jiangsu Province of east China. The LTSS consisted of TM and ETM＋ scenes with different projec- tions due to distinct data sources （Beijing remote sensing ground station and the USGS EROS Center）. The valida- tion results of the disturbance year maps showed that most spatial agreement measures ranged from 70 to 86 %, comparable with the VCT accuracies reported for many places in USA. Very low accuracies were identified in 1995 （38.3 %） and 1992 （56.2 %） in the current analysis. These resulted from the insensitivity of the VCT algorithm to detect low intensity disturbances and also from the mis- registration errors of the image pairs. Major forest distur- bance types existing in our study area were identified as agricultural expansion （39.8 %）, urbanization （24.9 %）, forest management practice （19.3 %）, and mining （12.8 %）. In general, there was a gradual decreasing trend in forest cover throughout this region, caused principally by China＇s economic, demographic, environmental and political policies and decisions, as well as some weather events. While VCT has largely been used to assess long term changes and trends in the USA, it has great potential for assessing landscape level change elsewhere throughout the world.展开更多
Background:Current automated forest investigation is facing a dilemma over how to achieve high tree-and plotlevel completeness while maintaining a high cost and labor efficiency.This study tackles the challenge by exp...Background:Current automated forest investigation is facing a dilemma over how to achieve high tree-and plotlevel completeness while maintaining a high cost and labor efficiency.This study tackles the challenge by exploring a new concept that enables an efficient fusion of aerial and terrestrial perspectives for digitizing and characterizing individual trees in forests through an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)that flies above and under canopies in a single operation.The advantage of such concept is that the aerial perspective from the above-canopy UAV and the terrestrial perspective from the under-canopy UAV can be seamlessly integrated in one flight,thus grants the access to simultaneous high completeness,high efficiency,and low cost.Results:In the experiment,an approximately 0.5 ha forest was covered in ca.10 min from takeoff to landing.The GNSS-IMU based positioning supports a geometric accuracy of the produced point cloud that is equivalent to that of the mobile mapping systems,which leads to a 2–4 cm RMSE of the diameter at the breast height estimates,and a 4–7 cm RMSE of the stem curve estimates.Conclusions:Results of the experiment suggested that the integrated flight is capable of combining the high completeness of upper canopies from the above-canopy perspective and the high completeness of stems from the terrestrial perspective.Thus,it is a solution to combine the advantages of the terrestrial static,the mobile,and the above-canopy UAV observations,which is a promising step forward to achieve a fully autonomous in situ forest inventory.Future studies should be aimed to further improve the platform positioning,and to automatize the UAV operation.展开更多
Forest is one of the most challenging environments to be recorded in a three-dimensional(3D)digitized geometrical representation,because of the size and the complexity of the environment and the data-acquisition const...Forest is one of the most challenging environments to be recorded in a three-dimensional(3D)digitized geometrical representation,because of the size and the complexity of the environment and the data-acquisition constraints brought by on-site conditions.Previous studies have indicated that the data-acquisition pattern can have more influence on the registration results than other factors.In practice,the ideal short-baseline observations,i.e.,the dense collection mode,is rarely feasible,considering the low accessibility in forest environments and the commonly limited labor and time resources.The wide-baseline observations that cover a forest site using a few folds less observations than short-baseline observations,are therefore more preferable and commonly applied.Nevertheless,the wide-baseline approach is more challenging for data registration since it typically lacks the required sufficient overlaps between datasets.Until now,a robust automated registration solution that is independent of special hardware requirements has still been missing.That is,the registration accuracy is still far from the required level,and the information extractable from the merged point cloud using automated registration could not match that from the merged point cloud using manual registration.This paper proposes a discrete overlap search(DOS)method to find correspondences in the point clouds to solve the low-overlap problem in the wide-baseline point clouds.The proposed automatic method uses potential correspondences from both original data and selected feature points to reconstruct rough observation geometries without external knowledge and to retrieve precise registration parameters at data-level.An extensive experiment was carried out with 24 forest datasets of different conditions categorized in three difficulty levels.The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using various accuracy criteria,as well as based on data acquired from different hardware,platforms,viewing perspectives,and at different points of time.The proposed method achieved a 3D registration accuracy at a 0.50-cm level in all difficulty categories using static terrestrial acquisitions.In the terrestrial-aerial registration,data sets were collected from different sensors and at different points of time with scene changes,and a registration accuracy at the raw data geometric accuracy level was achieved.These results represent the highest automated registration accuracy and the strictest evaluation so far.The proposed method is applicable in multiple scenarios,such as 1)the global positioning of individual under-canopy observations,which is one of the main challenges in applying terrestrial observations lacking a global context,2)the fusion of point clouds acquired from terrestrial and aerial perspectives,which is required in order to achieve a complete forest observation,3)mobile mapping using a new stop-and-go approach,which solves the problems of lacking mobility and slow data collection in static terrestrial measurements as well as the data-quality issue in the continuous mobile approach.Furthermore,this work proposes a new error estimate that units all parameter-level errors into a single quantity and compensates for the downsides of the widely used parameter-and object-level error estimates;it also proposes a new deterministic point sets registration method as an alternative to the popular sampling methods.展开更多
Drones of various shapes, sizes, and functionalities have emerged over the past few decades, and their civilian applications are becoming increasingly appealing. Flexible, low-cost, and high-resolution remote sensing ...Drones of various shapes, sizes, and functionalities have emerged over the past few decades, and their civilian applications are becoming increasingly appealing. Flexible, low-cost, and high-resolution remote sensing systems that use drones as platforms are important for filling data gaps and supplementing the capabilities of crewed/manned aircraft and satellite remote sensing systems. Here, we refer to this growing remote sensing ini- tiative as drone remote sensing and explain its unique advantages in forestry research and practices. Furthermore, we summarize the various approaches of drone remote sensing to surveying forests, mapping canopy gaps, mea- suring forest canopy height, tracking forest wildfires, and supporting intensive forest management. The benefits of drone remote sensing include low material and operational costs, flexible control of spatial and temporal resolution, high-intensity data collection, and the absence of risk to crews. The current forestry applications of drone remote sensing are still at an experimental stage, but they are expected to expand rapidly. To better guide the development of drone remote sensing for sustainable forestry, it isimportant to systematically and continuously conduct comparative studies to determine the appropriate drone remote sensing technologies for various forest conditions and/or forestry applications.展开更多
This study was conducted in a fire-prone region in the Greater Xing＇an Mountains, the primary forested area of northeastern China. We measured soil respiration and the affecting soil factors, i.e., soil microbial bio...This study was conducted in a fire-prone region in the Greater Xing＇an Mountains, the primary forested area of northeastern China. We measured soil respiration and the affecting soil factors, i.e., soil microbial biomass and soil moisture, within an experimental plot of Larix gmelinii Rupr. A low-intensity, prescribed fire was applied as the treatment. Traditional descriptive statistics and geostatistics were used to analyze the spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration and the response of respiration to fire disturbance. Coefficients of variation （CVs） for pre-fire and post-fire soil respiration were 23.4 and 32.0 %, respec- tively. CVs for post-fire soil respiration increased signifi- cantly, with a moderate variation of all CVs. Soil respiration pre-fire was significantly correlated with soil microbial biomass carbon, biomass nitrogen, and soil moisture （W）; post-fire soil respiration was not correlated with these factors. From the geostatistical analyses, the Co ＋ C （sill） for post-fire soil respiration increased sig- nificantly, indicating that the post-fire spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration increased significantly. The nugget effect （nc） of soil respiration and the affecting factors pre-fire and post-fire disturbance were in the range of 12.5-50 %, with strong spatial autocorrelation. Fire disturbance changed the components of spatial heterogeneity, and the proportion of functional heterogeneity increased significantly post-fire. The ranges （a） for pre-fire and post-fire soil respiration were 81.0 and 68.2 m, respectively. The homogeneity of the distribution of post-fire soil respiration decreased and the spatial heterogeneity increased, thus the range for post- fire soil respiration decreased significantly. The fractal dimension （D） for soil respiration increased post-fire, the spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration affected by random components increased, indicating that the change in spatial heterogeneity of post-fire soil respiration should be con- sidered within the scale of the forest stand. Following Kriging interpolation, the increase in the patchiness of post-fire soil respiration was illustrated using a contour map. Based on these preliminary results, the change in the spatial heterogeneity of post-fire soil respiration was likely caused by changes in the distribution of soil moisture and microbial activity within the experimental plot at the scale of the forest stand.展开更多
The main aim of this study was to evaluate methods for fixed area and distance sampling in the Zagros open forest area in western Iran. Basic forest management and planning required appropriate quantitative and qualit...The main aim of this study was to evaluate methods for fixed area and distance sampling in the Zagros open forest area in western Iran. Basic forest management and planning required appropriate quantitative and qualitative information. Two sampling methods were compared on the basis of the actual means of characteristics derived from the 100 % survey. In total, 37 sampling plots were systematically installed with a grid of 100 m × 100 m in the study area. Density, crown canopy, and basal area of the stands were measured. The 100 % survey showed that tree density above 12.5 cm diameter at breast height was 68.04 stem ha-1, basal area was 15.16 m2 ha-1 and crown canopy percentage was 35.71% ha-1. The values for the traits determined by the two sampling methods differed significantly （P = 0.05）. When the time required for the methods was compared, transect sampling required less than systematic-random sampling. Therefore, the transect sampling method was the more economical method for the Zagros open forests. The transect sampling method was statistically defensible and practical for quantitating characteristics of the Zagros open forests.展开更多
Extracts are important components of fuels. Fatty-extracts with high heating value （HV） are hypothe- sized by researchers as positively related to the HV of fuels. The Soxhlet extractor is typically used to extract ...Extracts are important components of fuels. Fatty-extracts with high heating value （HV） are hypothe- sized by researchers as positively related to the HV of fuels. The Soxhlet extractor is typically used to extract fatty-extracts but it has shortcomings, including long processing time （8-10 h） and the requirement for large amounts of organic solvent. Supercritical extraction is an alternate and useful technique for extraction of natural products. However, published studies rarely discuss the relationship between extracts and HV. In this study, we assessed the supercritical extracts （SUE） of forest fuels in the Great Xing＇an Mountains. Our results indicated that the optimum conditions for extraction of SuEs were 40-60 mesh, 40-50 MPa, 45℃, 80 min and a CO2 flow rate of 1.5-2.0 dm3/min. The Soxhlet extracts contents and the SuE contents were all related to HV. However, R2 of the coniferous samples （0.8499） and needle samples （0.9722） demonstrated that the correlation between HV and the SuE content was closer. We conclude that supercritical fatty-extracts provide a useful index of the HV of fuels, especially coniferous fuels. SuE data can be used in fire management, for example to estimate the rate of fire spread or fire intensity.展开更多
Subalpine fir decline （SFD） has killed more trees in Colorado＇s high elevation forests than any other insect or disease problem. The widespread nature of this disorder suggests that the cause involves climatic fact...Subalpine fir decline （SFD） has killed more trees in Colorado＇s high elevation forests than any other insect or disease problem. The widespread nature of this disorder suggests that the cause involves climatic factors. We examined the influence of varying combinations of average annual temperature and precipitation on the incidence and distribution of SFD. Climatic transition matrices generated in this study indicate that most healthy trees are found in climatic zones with moderate to low temperatures and high precipitation; whereas, SFD occurs mostly in zones of moderate temperatures and moderate precipitation. The contrasting distributions define an environmental mismatch. Forests matched with favorable climatic conditions thrive; those that are mismatched can become vulnerable to decline disease.展开更多
Abstract Forests have been expanding over typical savanna sites for the past 3000 years in the Neotropics. Such invasion can produce a series of environmental modifications on typical savanna; however, it remains uncl...Abstract Forests have been expanding over typical savanna sites for the past 3000 years in the Neotropics. Such invasion can produce a series of environmental modifications on typical savanna; however, it remains unclear how modifications in soil properties, caused by the encroachment of woody species, facilitate the expansion of forest ecosystems under dystrophic conditions. Here we examined chemical and microbiological changes associ- ated with tree encroachment in oxisols of a Neotropical Savanna at Assis Ecological Station, Southeastern Brazil. We predicted that tree encroachment caused by typical forest species would cause significant changes in the chemical and microbiological properties of savanna soils. Soils were sampled at Assis Ecological Station, from savanna sites differing in tree encroachment （typical, dense and forested savanna） caused by decades of fire exclusion. We analysed vegetation leaf area index and leaf litter volume deposited in the studied plots and chemical （pH,organic matter, P, K, Ca, Mg, A1, NO3-, NH4＋） and microbiological （microbial C biomass and dehydrogenase activity） properties of soils under distinct encroachment conditions. Most soil chemical properties did not change along the tree encroachment gradient; however, total P, soil organic matter, soil microbial C and dehydrogenase activity increased from typical savanna to forested savanna. The changes in soil organic matter and dehydrogenase activity were correlated with the values of leaf area index and litter volume along the encroachment gradient. Our results demonstrate that forest species can increase carbon and phosphorus supplies in tropical savanna soils.展开更多
基金This study was supported by Innovation Research Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Culture and Education Japanese Government.
文摘Based on the discussion of relationships between thinning and wind damage, and published information, a method for estimating risk ratios of wind damage was developed. Estimations of risk-ratio for Pinus thunbergii trees and stands were de-duced from stem bending theory and coefficients characterizing wind profile, distribution of branches and optical stratification po-rosity. The results showed that if the value of constant b in the branch distribution-model equals the attenuation coefficient s in the wind profile model for a single tree crown, then the parameter H/D1.33 (height over stem diameter cubed) can be used to compare and evaluate the risk-ratio of wind damage for individual trees. The same method can be applied to stands using the coefficient of wind profile in a stand, i.e. attenuation coefficient , the coefficient from distributions of optical stratification porosity, i.e. extinction coefficient , and the parameter D1.33. The application of parameter H/D1.33 and the process of determining risk ra-tios of wind damage for stands were also given in the paper.
文摘The Zagros forests are a treasure of valuable oak forests, but they have been severely degraded from long-term misuse. Geographic information systems （GIS） and multi-criteria decision analysis （MCDA） have been increasingly used to improve the management of vulnerable ecosystems to prevent further degradation and increase the sustainability of land use. This study presents a methodology to assess land suitability using remote sensing （RS） to obtain wall-to-wall data for the calculations, GIS to analyze the data, and MCDA to rank alternative land uses. The criteria and subcriteria affecting the suitability of land for different uses were identified and weighted using an analytic hierarchy process. Variables used as subcriteria were assessed using satellite data and other sources of information such as existing maps and field surveys. Numerical values for the subcriteria were classified, and each class was given a priority rating according to expert judgments. Based on the ratings and weights of the subcriteria, a priority map was created for each land use using the weighted linear combination method. The priority maps for different land uses were overlaid to obtain a preliminary land use map, which often indicated several simultaneous land uses for the same location. The preliminary map was further edited by removing unrealistic, mutually exclusive land-use combinations. The study tested and demonstrated the potential of integrating RS, G1S and MCDA techniques for solving complicated land allocation problems in forested regions using a scientifically sound and practical approach for efficient and sustainable allocation of forestland for different uses.
基金funded by China National Science and Technology Support Program(Grant No.2012BAD21B02)
文摘This study aimed to demonstrate change in spatial correlation between Korean pine （Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc.） and three rare species, and change in spatial distribution of four species in response to a range of selective cutting intensities. We sampled three plots of mixed Korean pine and broad-leaf forest in Lushuihe Forestry Bureau of Jilin province, China. Plot 1, a control, was unlogged Korean pine broad-leaf forest. In plots 2 and 3, Korean pine was selectively cut at 15 and 30 % intensity, respectively, in the 1970s. Other species were rarely cut. We used point-pattern analysis to research the spatial distributions of four tree species and quantify spatial correlations between Korean pine and the other three species, Amur linden （Tilia amurensis Rupr.）, Manchurian ash （Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr.）, and Mongolian oak （Quercus mongolica Fisch.） in all three plots. The results of the study show that selective cutting at 15 % intensity did not significantly change either the species spatial patterns or the spatial correlation between Korean pine and broadleaf species. Selective cutting at 30 % intensity slightly affected the growth of Korean pine and valuable species in forest communities, and the effect was considered nondestructive and recoverable.
基金funded by the following grants:the Forestry Public Welfare Project(201304208)the‘‘948’’Project sponsored by the State Forestry Administration(SFA)of China(2014-4-25)+4 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31270587,31100414)the PAPD(Priority Academic Program Development)of Jiangsu provincial universitiesperformed while the lead author held a scholarship sponsored the CSC(China Scholarship Council)(201208320553)at the department of Geographical Sciences,University of Marylandawardee of the 2012 Youth Backbone Teachers Support Plan of Jiangsu Provincethe 2012 Youth Talents Support Plan of Nanjing Forestry University
文摘Forest losses or gains have long been recognized as critical processes modulating the carbon flux between the biosphere and the atmosphere. Timely, accurate and spatially explicit information on forest disturbance and recovery history is required for assessing the effectiveness of existing forest management. The major objectives of our research focused on testing the mapping efficacy of the vegetation change tracker （VCT） model over a forested area in China. We used a new version of VCT algorithm built upon the Landsat time series stacks （LTSS）. The LTSS consisted of yearly image acquisitions to map forest disturbance history from 1987 to 2011 over the Ning-Zhen Mountains, Jiangsu Province of east China. The LTSS consisted of TM and ETM＋ scenes with different projec- tions due to distinct data sources （Beijing remote sensing ground station and the USGS EROS Center）. The valida- tion results of the disturbance year maps showed that most spatial agreement measures ranged from 70 to 86 %, comparable with the VCT accuracies reported for many places in USA. Very low accuracies were identified in 1995 （38.3 %） and 1992 （56.2 %） in the current analysis. These resulted from the insensitivity of the VCT algorithm to detect low intensity disturbances and also from the mis- registration errors of the image pairs. Major forest distur- bance types existing in our study area were identified as agricultural expansion （39.8 %）, urbanization （24.9 %）, forest management practice （19.3 %）, and mining （12.8 %）. In general, there was a gradual decreasing trend in forest cover throughout this region, caused principally by China＇s economic, demographic, environmental and political policies and decisions, as well as some weather events. While VCT has largely been used to assess long term changes and trends in the USA, it has great potential for assessing landscape level change elsewhere throughout the world.
基金supported in part by the Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland project“Competence Based Growth Through Integrated Disruptive Technologies of 3D Digitalization,Robotics,Geospatial Information and Image Processing/Computing-Point Cloud Ecosystem(293389,314312),Academy of Finland projects“Estimating Forest Resources and Quality-related Attributes Using Automated Methods and Technologies”(334830,334829)”,“Monitoring and understanding forest ecosystem cycles”(334060)。
文摘Background:Current automated forest investigation is facing a dilemma over how to achieve high tree-and plotlevel completeness while maintaining a high cost and labor efficiency.This study tackles the challenge by exploring a new concept that enables an efficient fusion of aerial and terrestrial perspectives for digitizing and characterizing individual trees in forests through an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)that flies above and under canopies in a single operation.The advantage of such concept is that the aerial perspective from the above-canopy UAV and the terrestrial perspective from the under-canopy UAV can be seamlessly integrated in one flight,thus grants the access to simultaneous high completeness,high efficiency,and low cost.Results:In the experiment,an approximately 0.5 ha forest was covered in ca.10 min from takeoff to landing.The GNSS-IMU based positioning supports a geometric accuracy of the produced point cloud that is equivalent to that of the mobile mapping systems,which leads to a 2–4 cm RMSE of the diameter at the breast height estimates,and a 4–7 cm RMSE of the stem curve estimates.Conclusions:Results of the experiment suggested that the integrated flight is capable of combining the high completeness of upper canopies from the above-canopy perspective and the high completeness of stems from the terrestrial perspective.Thus,it is a solution to combine the advantages of the terrestrial static,the mobile,and the above-canopy UAV observations,which is a promising step forward to achieve a fully autonomous in situ forest inventory.Future studies should be aimed to further improve the platform positioning,and to automatize the UAV operation.
基金financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.32171789,32211530031)Wuhan University(No.WHUZZJJ202220)Academy of Finland(Nos.334060,334829,331708,344755,337656,334830,293389/314312,334830,319011)。
文摘Forest is one of the most challenging environments to be recorded in a three-dimensional(3D)digitized geometrical representation,because of the size and the complexity of the environment and the data-acquisition constraints brought by on-site conditions.Previous studies have indicated that the data-acquisition pattern can have more influence on the registration results than other factors.In practice,the ideal short-baseline observations,i.e.,the dense collection mode,is rarely feasible,considering the low accessibility in forest environments and the commonly limited labor and time resources.The wide-baseline observations that cover a forest site using a few folds less observations than short-baseline observations,are therefore more preferable and commonly applied.Nevertheless,the wide-baseline approach is more challenging for data registration since it typically lacks the required sufficient overlaps between datasets.Until now,a robust automated registration solution that is independent of special hardware requirements has still been missing.That is,the registration accuracy is still far from the required level,and the information extractable from the merged point cloud using automated registration could not match that from the merged point cloud using manual registration.This paper proposes a discrete overlap search(DOS)method to find correspondences in the point clouds to solve the low-overlap problem in the wide-baseline point clouds.The proposed automatic method uses potential correspondences from both original data and selected feature points to reconstruct rough observation geometries without external knowledge and to retrieve precise registration parameters at data-level.An extensive experiment was carried out with 24 forest datasets of different conditions categorized in three difficulty levels.The performance of the proposed method was evaluated using various accuracy criteria,as well as based on data acquired from different hardware,platforms,viewing perspectives,and at different points of time.The proposed method achieved a 3D registration accuracy at a 0.50-cm level in all difficulty categories using static terrestrial acquisitions.In the terrestrial-aerial registration,data sets were collected from different sensors and at different points of time with scene changes,and a registration accuracy at the raw data geometric accuracy level was achieved.These results represent the highest automated registration accuracy and the strictest evaluation so far.The proposed method is applicable in multiple scenarios,such as 1)the global positioning of individual under-canopy observations,which is one of the main challenges in applying terrestrial observations lacking a global context,2)the fusion of point clouds acquired from terrestrial and aerial perspectives,which is required in order to achieve a complete forest observation,3)mobile mapping using a new stop-and-go approach,which solves the problems of lacking mobility and slow data collection in static terrestrial measurements as well as the data-quality issue in the continuous mobile approach.Furthermore,this work proposes a new error estimate that units all parameter-level errors into a single quantity and compensates for the downsides of the widely used parameter-and object-level error estimates;it also proposes a new deterministic point sets registration method as an alternative to the popular sampling methods.
文摘Drones of various shapes, sizes, and functionalities have emerged over the past few decades, and their civilian applications are becoming increasingly appealing. Flexible, low-cost, and high-resolution remote sensing systems that use drones as platforms are important for filling data gaps and supplementing the capabilities of crewed/manned aircraft and satellite remote sensing systems. Here, we refer to this growing remote sensing ini- tiative as drone remote sensing and explain its unique advantages in forestry research and practices. Furthermore, we summarize the various approaches of drone remote sensing to surveying forests, mapping canopy gaps, mea- suring forest canopy height, tracking forest wildfires, and supporting intensive forest management. The benefits of drone remote sensing include low material and operational costs, flexible control of spatial and temporal resolution, high-intensity data collection, and the absence of risk to crews. The current forestry applications of drone remote sensing are still at an experimental stage, but they are expected to expand rapidly. To better guide the development of drone remote sensing for sustainable forestry, it isimportant to systematically and continuously conduct comparative studies to determine the appropriate drone remote sensing technologies for various forest conditions and/or forestry applications.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation(Nos.31470657 and 31070544)Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.2572015DA01)The CFERN and GENE Award Funds for Ecological Papers
文摘This study was conducted in a fire-prone region in the Greater Xing＇an Mountains, the primary forested area of northeastern China. We measured soil respiration and the affecting soil factors, i.e., soil microbial biomass and soil moisture, within an experimental plot of Larix gmelinii Rupr. A low-intensity, prescribed fire was applied as the treatment. Traditional descriptive statistics and geostatistics were used to analyze the spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration and the response of respiration to fire disturbance. Coefficients of variation （CVs） for pre-fire and post-fire soil respiration were 23.4 and 32.0 %, respec- tively. CVs for post-fire soil respiration increased signifi- cantly, with a moderate variation of all CVs. Soil respiration pre-fire was significantly correlated with soil microbial biomass carbon, biomass nitrogen, and soil moisture （W）; post-fire soil respiration was not correlated with these factors. From the geostatistical analyses, the Co ＋ C （sill） for post-fire soil respiration increased sig- nificantly, indicating that the post-fire spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration increased significantly. The nugget effect （nc） of soil respiration and the affecting factors pre-fire and post-fire disturbance were in the range of 12.5-50 %, with strong spatial autocorrelation. Fire disturbance changed the components of spatial heterogeneity, and the proportion of functional heterogeneity increased significantly post-fire. The ranges （a） for pre-fire and post-fire soil respiration were 81.0 and 68.2 m, respectively. The homogeneity of the distribution of post-fire soil respiration decreased and the spatial heterogeneity increased, thus the range for post- fire soil respiration decreased significantly. The fractal dimension （D） for soil respiration increased post-fire, the spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration affected by random components increased, indicating that the change in spatial heterogeneity of post-fire soil respiration should be con- sidered within the scale of the forest stand. Following Kriging interpolation, the increase in the patchiness of post-fire soil respiration was illustrated using a contour map. Based on these preliminary results, the change in the spatial heterogeneity of post-fire soil respiration was likely caused by changes in the distribution of soil moisture and microbial activity within the experimental plot at the scale of the forest stand.
文摘The main aim of this study was to evaluate methods for fixed area and distance sampling in the Zagros open forest area in western Iran. Basic forest management and planning required appropriate quantitative and qualitative information. Two sampling methods were compared on the basis of the actual means of characteristics derived from the 100 % survey. In total, 37 sampling plots were systematically installed with a grid of 100 m × 100 m in the study area. Density, crown canopy, and basal area of the stands were measured. The 100 % survey showed that tree density above 12.5 cm diameter at breast height was 68.04 stem ha-1, basal area was 15.16 m2 ha-1 and crown canopy percentage was 35.71% ha-1. The values for the traits determined by the two sampling methods differed significantly （P = 0.05）. When the time required for the methods was compared, transect sampling required less than systematic-random sampling. Therefore, the transect sampling method was the more economical method for the Zagros open forests. The transect sampling method was statistically defensible and practical for quantitating characteristics of the Zagros open forests.
基金sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant number:31170618)the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China(Grant number2011BAD32B05)
文摘Extracts are important components of fuels. Fatty-extracts with high heating value （HV） are hypothe- sized by researchers as positively related to the HV of fuels. The Soxhlet extractor is typically used to extract fatty-extracts but it has shortcomings, including long processing time （8-10 h） and the requirement for large amounts of organic solvent. Supercritical extraction is an alternate and useful technique for extraction of natural products. However, published studies rarely discuss the relationship between extracts and HV. In this study, we assessed the supercritical extracts （SUE） of forest fuels in the Great Xing＇an Mountains. Our results indicated that the optimum conditions for extraction of SuEs were 40-60 mesh, 40-50 MPa, 45℃, 80 min and a CO2 flow rate of 1.5-2.0 dm3/min. The Soxhlet extracts contents and the SuE contents were all related to HV. However, R2 of the coniferous samples （0.8499） and needle samples （0.9722） demonstrated that the correlation between HV and the SuE content was closer. We conclude that supercritical fatty-extracts provide a useful index of the HV of fuels, especially coniferous fuels. SuE data can be used in fire management, for example to estimate the rate of fire spread or fire intensity.
基金supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture,Mc Intire-Stennis
文摘Subalpine fir decline （SFD） has killed more trees in Colorado＇s high elevation forests than any other insect or disease problem. The widespread nature of this disorder suggests that the cause involves climatic factors. We examined the influence of varying combinations of average annual temperature and precipitation on the incidence and distribution of SFD. Climatic transition matrices generated in this study indicate that most healthy trees are found in climatic zones with moderate to low temperatures and high precipitation; whereas, SFD occurs mostly in zones of moderate temperatures and moderate precipitation. The contrasting distributions define an environmental mismatch. Forests matched with favorable climatic conditions thrive; those that are mismatched can become vulnerable to decline disease.
文摘Abstract Forests have been expanding over typical savanna sites for the past 3000 years in the Neotropics. Such invasion can produce a series of environmental modifications on typical savanna; however, it remains unclear how modifications in soil properties, caused by the encroachment of woody species, facilitate the expansion of forest ecosystems under dystrophic conditions. Here we examined chemical and microbiological changes associ- ated with tree encroachment in oxisols of a Neotropical Savanna at Assis Ecological Station, Southeastern Brazil. We predicted that tree encroachment caused by typical forest species would cause significant changes in the chemical and microbiological properties of savanna soils. Soils were sampled at Assis Ecological Station, from savanna sites differing in tree encroachment （typical, dense and forested savanna） caused by decades of fire exclusion. We analysed vegetation leaf area index and leaf litter volume deposited in the studied plots and chemical （pH,organic matter, P, K, Ca, Mg, A1, NO3-, NH4＋） and microbiological （microbial C biomass and dehydrogenase activity） properties of soils under distinct encroachment conditions. Most soil chemical properties did not change along the tree encroachment gradient; however, total P, soil organic matter, soil microbial C and dehydrogenase activity increased from typical savanna to forested savanna. The changes in soil organic matter and dehydrogenase activity were correlated with the values of leaf area index and litter volume along the encroachment gradient. Our results demonstrate that forest species can increase carbon and phosphorus supplies in tropical savanna soils.
