Non-Destructive Biomass Estimation in Mediterranean Alpha Steppes: Improving Traditional Methods for Measuring Dry and Green Fractions by Combining Proximal Remote Sensing Tools
The Mediterranean region is experiencing a stronger warming effect than other regions, which has generated a cascade of negative impacts on productivity, biodiversity, and stability of the ecosystem. To monitor ecosystem status and dynamics, aboveground biomass (AGB) is a good indicator, being a sur...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10835/12083 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13152970 |
| _version_ | 1789406420172537856 |
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| author | Rodríguez Lozano, Borja Rodríguez Caballero, Emilio Maggioli, Lisa Cantón Castilla, María Yolanda |
| author_facet | Rodríguez Lozano, Borja Rodríguez Caballero, Emilio Maggioli, Lisa Cantón Castilla, María Yolanda |
| author_sort | Rodríguez Lozano, Borja |
| collection | DSpace |
| description | The Mediterranean region is experiencing a stronger warming effect than other regions, which has generated a cascade of negative impacts on productivity, biodiversity, and stability of the ecosystem. To monitor ecosystem status and dynamics, aboveground biomass (AGB) is a good indicator, being a surrogate of many ecosystem functions and services and one of the main terrestrial carbon pools. Thus, accurate methodologies for AGB estimation are needed. This has been traditionally done by performing direct field measurements. However, field-based methods, such as biomass harvesting, are destructive, expensive, and time consuming and only provide punctual information, not being appropriate for large scale applications. Here, we propose a new non-destructive methodology for monitoring the spatiotemporal dynamics of AGB and green biomass (GB) of M. tenacissima L. plants by combining structural information obtained from terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) point clouds and spectral information. Our results demonstrate that the three volume measurement methods derived from the TLS point clouds tested (3D convex hull, voxel, and raster surface models) improved the results obtained by traditional field-based measurements. (Adjust-R2 = 0.86–0.84 and RMSE = 927.3–960.2 g for AGB in OLS regressions and Adjust-R2 = 0.93 and RMSE = 376.6–385.1 g for AGB in gradient boosting regression). Among the approaches, the voxel model at 5 cm of spatial resolution provided the best results; however, differences with the 3D convex hull and raster surface-based models were very small. We also found that by combining TLS AGB estimations with spectral information, green and dry biomass fraction can be accurately measured (Adjust-R2 = 0.65–0.56 and RMSE = 149.96–166.87 g in OLS regressions and Adjust-R2 = 0.96–0.97 and RMSE = 46.1–49.8 g in gradient boosting regression), which is critical in heterogeneous Mediterranean ecosystems in which AGB largely varies in response to climatic fluctuations. Thus, our results represent important progress for the measurement of M. tenacissima L. biomass and dynamics, providing a promising tool for calibration and validation of further studies aimed at developing new methodologies for AGB estimation at ecosystem regional scales. |
| format | info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
| id | oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-12083 |
| institution | Universidad de Cuenca |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | MDPI |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oai:repositorio.ual.es:10835-120832023-04-12T18:54:04Z Non-Destructive Biomass Estimation in Mediterranean Alpha Steppes: Improving Traditional Methods for Measuring Dry and Green Fractions by Combining Proximal Remote Sensing Tools Rodríguez Lozano, Borja Rodríguez Caballero, Emilio Maggioli, Lisa Cantón Castilla, María Yolanda TLS remote sensing above ground biomass dryland grass tussock spectral indices raster voxel convex hull The Mediterranean region is experiencing a stronger warming effect than other regions, which has generated a cascade of negative impacts on productivity, biodiversity, and stability of the ecosystem. To monitor ecosystem status and dynamics, aboveground biomass (AGB) is a good indicator, being a surrogate of many ecosystem functions and services and one of the main terrestrial carbon pools. Thus, accurate methodologies for AGB estimation are needed. This has been traditionally done by performing direct field measurements. However, field-based methods, such as biomass harvesting, are destructive, expensive, and time consuming and only provide punctual information, not being appropriate for large scale applications. Here, we propose a new non-destructive methodology for monitoring the spatiotemporal dynamics of AGB and green biomass (GB) of M. tenacissima L. plants by combining structural information obtained from terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) point clouds and spectral information. Our results demonstrate that the three volume measurement methods derived from the TLS point clouds tested (3D convex hull, voxel, and raster surface models) improved the results obtained by traditional field-based measurements. (Adjust-R2 = 0.86–0.84 and RMSE = 927.3–960.2 g for AGB in OLS regressions and Adjust-R2 = 0.93 and RMSE = 376.6–385.1 g for AGB in gradient boosting regression). Among the approaches, the voxel model at 5 cm of spatial resolution provided the best results; however, differences with the 3D convex hull and raster surface-based models were very small. We also found that by combining TLS AGB estimations with spectral information, green and dry biomass fraction can be accurately measured (Adjust-R2 = 0.65–0.56 and RMSE = 149.96–166.87 g in OLS regressions and Adjust-R2 = 0.96–0.97 and RMSE = 46.1–49.8 g in gradient boosting regression), which is critical in heterogeneous Mediterranean ecosystems in which AGB largely varies in response to climatic fluctuations. Thus, our results represent important progress for the measurement of M. tenacissima L. biomass and dynamics, providing a promising tool for calibration and validation of further studies aimed at developing new methodologies for AGB estimation at ecosystem regional scales. 2021-07-30T07:10:57Z 2021-07-30T07:10:57Z 2021-07-28 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2072-4292 http://hdl.handle.net/10835/12083 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13152970 en https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/15/2970 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess MDPI |
| spellingShingle | TLS remote sensing above ground biomass dryland grass tussock spectral indices raster voxel convex hull Rodríguez Lozano, Borja Rodríguez Caballero, Emilio Maggioli, Lisa Cantón Castilla, María Yolanda Non-Destructive Biomass Estimation in Mediterranean Alpha Steppes: Improving Traditional Methods for Measuring Dry and Green Fractions by Combining Proximal Remote Sensing Tools |
| title | Non-Destructive Biomass Estimation in Mediterranean Alpha Steppes: Improving Traditional Methods for Measuring Dry and Green Fractions by Combining Proximal Remote Sensing Tools |
| title_full | Non-Destructive Biomass Estimation in Mediterranean Alpha Steppes: Improving Traditional Methods for Measuring Dry and Green Fractions by Combining Proximal Remote Sensing Tools |
| title_fullStr | Non-Destructive Biomass Estimation in Mediterranean Alpha Steppes: Improving Traditional Methods for Measuring Dry and Green Fractions by Combining Proximal Remote Sensing Tools |
| title_full_unstemmed | Non-Destructive Biomass Estimation in Mediterranean Alpha Steppes: Improving Traditional Methods for Measuring Dry and Green Fractions by Combining Proximal Remote Sensing Tools |
| title_short | Non-Destructive Biomass Estimation in Mediterranean Alpha Steppes: Improving Traditional Methods for Measuring Dry and Green Fractions by Combining Proximal Remote Sensing Tools |
| title_sort | non-destructive biomass estimation in mediterranean alpha steppes: improving traditional methods for measuring dry and green fractions by combining proximal remote sensing tools |
| topic | TLS remote sensing above ground biomass dryland grass tussock spectral indices raster voxel convex hull |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/10835/12083 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13152970 |
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