Unmanned Aerial Vehicle–Light Detection and Ranging-Based Individual Tree Segmentation in Eucalyptus spp. Forests: Performance and Sensitivity

Abstract

As an emerging powerful tool for forest resource surveys, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors provide an efficient way to detect individual trees. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the most suitable individual tree segmentation algorithm and analyze the sensitivity of the parameter setting to determine the optimal parameters, especially for the Eucalyptus spp. forest, which is one of the most important hardwood plantations in the world. In the study, four methods were employed to segment individual Eucalyptus spp. plantations from normalized point cloud data and canopy height model generated from the original UAV-LiDAR data. And the parameter sensitivity of each segmentation method was analyzed to obtain the optimal parameter setting according to the extraction accuracy. The performance of the segmentation result was assessed by three indices including detection rate, precision, and overall correctness. The results indicated that the watershed algorithm performed better than other methods as the highest overall correctness (F = 0.761) was generated from this method. And the segmentation methods based on the canopy height model performed better than those based on normalized point cloud data. The detection rate and overall correctness of low-density plots were better than high-density plots, while the precision was reversed. Forest structures and individual wood characteristics are important factors influencing the parameter sensitivity. The performance of segmentation was improved by optimizing the key parameters of the different algorithms. With optimal parameters, different segmentation methods can be used for different types of Eucalyptus plots to achieve a satisfying performance. This study can be applied to accurate measurement and monitoring of Eucalyptus plantation.