A Measuring Forest Trees Height Using Different Methods: A Case Study on Chinar Trees (Platanus Orientalis) in Duhok Province

Rand Omer Khalo; Salah Matti Ibrahim

doi:10.21271/ZJPAS.38.2.9

Authors

Rand Omer Khalo Dept. of Forestry, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Duhok, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
Salah Matti Ibrahim Dept. of Forestry, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Duhok, Kurdistan Region-Iraq

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21271/ZJPAS.38.2.9

Keywords:

UAVs, Total station, DJI Terra, Tree heigh, Tape

Abstract

In this study, forty Platanus orientalis trees located in duhok-Kurdistan Region of Iraq were selected to measure tree height using two different methods: UAV-Terra and Terra software, and Total station (TS), then the results were compared with that measured by tape-mounted drone when wind speed is less than 5km/hour. Results showed the tree heights measured using the TS closely aligned with those obtained from the tape-mounted drone and Terra software method demonstrating high accuracy (R² was 98.51%). Among the thirty-nine observations, a strong correlation was also found between tape-mounted drone and UAV-Terra with an R² value of 90.89%. The results also depicted that the best model that can describe the relationship Between Tape- mounted drone and the UAV-Terra values was a Double-squared one: (Tape-mounted drone = sqrt (18.6982 + 0.946374*UAV-Terra^2)), and the model that fits the relationship Between Tape- mounted drone and the TS values was linear: (Tape- mounted drone = 0.1997 + 0.98302*TS).

References

Barbosa, R.I. et al. (2019) ‘Allometric models to estimate tree height in northern Amazonian ecotone forests’, Acta Amazonica, 49(2), pp. 81–90.

Belmonte, A. et al. (2020) ‘UAV‐derived estimates of forest structure to inform ponderosa pine forest restoration’, Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, 6(2), pp. 181–197.

Capalb, F. et al. (2024) ‘Integration of Terrestrial Laser Scanning and field measurements data for tree stem volume estimation: Exploring parametric and non-parametric modeling approaches’, Annals of Forest Research, 67(1), pp. 77–94.

Dalla Corte, A.P. et al. (2020) ‘Measuring individual tree diameter and height using GatorEye High-Density UAV-Lidar in an integrated crop-livestock-forest system’, Remote Sensing, 12(5), p. 863.

Ganz, S., Käber, Y. and Adler, P. (2019) ‘Measuring tree height with remote sensing—A comparison of photogrammetric and LiDAR data with different field measurements’, Forests, 10(8), p. 694.

Guan SenLin, G.S. et al. (2019) ‘Assessing correlation of high-resolution NDVI with fertilizer application level and yield of rice and wheat crops using small UAVs.’

Gyawali, A. et al. (2022) ‘Comparison of individual tree height estimated from LiDAR and digital aerial photogrammetry in young forests’, Sustainability, 14(7), p. 3720.

HamadAmin, B.A. and Khwarahm, N.R. (2023) ‘Mapping impacts of climate change on the distributions of two endemic tree species under socioeconomic pathway scenarios (SSP)’, Sustainability, 15(6), p. 5469.

Hansen, E.A. (2021) ‘Nøyaktighet og presisjon ved høydemålinger på enkeltrær’. Master thesis, NMBU.

Hartley, R.J.L. et al. (2020) ‘An assessment of high-density UAV point clouds for the measurement of young forestry trials’, Remote Sensing, 12(24), p. 4039.

Khalid, N. (2024) ‘Internal structure of platanus (platanus orientalis l.) grown in different environments in Kurdistan Region, Iraq’, Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research, 102(1), pp. 103–114.

Khwarahm, N.R. (2020) ‘Mapping current and potential future distributions of the oak tree (Quercus aegilops) in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq’, Ecological Processes, 9(1), pp. 1–16.

Krautz, N. (2019) ‘Comparison of TLS to total station accuracy for tree parameter measurement in biomass estimation’.

Lagogiannis, S. and Dimitriou, E. (2021) ‘Discharge estimation with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and hydraulic methods in shallow rivers’, Water, 13(20), p. 2808.

Liyan, Y. et al. (2018) ‘Method of measuring tree height and volume based on CCD SmartStation’, Nature Environment and Pollution Technology, 17(4), pp. 1305–1313.

Martin, A.J.F. (2022) ‘Accuracy and Precision in Urban Forestry Tools for Estimating Total Tree Height’, Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF), 48(6), pp. 319–332.

Pariyar, S. and Mandal, R.A. (2019) ‘Comparative tree height measurement using different instrument’, International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 1(2), pp. 12–17.

De Petris, S., Sarvia, F. and Borgogno-Mondino, E. (2022) ‘About tree height measurement: Theoretical and practical issues for uncertainty quantification and mapping’, Forests, 13(7), p. 969.

Qadir, R.Y. and Khwarahm, N.R. (2025) ‘Current and Projected Future Spatial Distribution Patterns of Prunus microcarpa in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq’, Biology, 14(4), p. 358.

Radha, K.O. and Khwarahm, N.R. (2022) ‘An integrated approach to map the impact of climate change on the distributions of Crataegus azarolus and Crataegus monogyna in Kurdistan Region, Iraq’, Sustainability, 14(21), p. 14621.

Ramli, M.F. and Tahar, K.N. (2020) ‘Homogeneous tree height derivation from tree crown delineation using Seeded Region Growing (SRG) segmentation’, Geo-Spatial Information Science, 23(3), pp. 195–208.

Sabr, H.A. (2021) ‘Growth of (Platanus orientalis L.) seedlings under different drought stress condition’, Polytechnic Journal, 11(2), pp. 31–36.

Safonova, A. et al. (2021) ‘Olive tree biovolume from UAV multi-resolution image segmentation with mask R-CNN’, Sensors, 21(5), p. 1617.

Silva, C.A. et al. (2018) ‘Estimating Stand Height and Tree Density in Pinus taeda plantations using in-situ data, airborne LiDAR and k-Nearest Neighbor Imputation’, Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 90(01), pp. 295–309.

Tan, C. et al. (2024) ‘Accuracy analysis of UAV aerial photogrammetry based on RTK mode, flight altitude, and number of GCPs’, Measurement Science and Technology, 35(10), p. 106310.

Vélez-Nicolás, M. et al. (2021) ‘Applications of unmanned aerial systems (UASs) in hydrology: A review’, Remote Sensing, 13(7), p. 1359.

White, T.L. et al. (2024) ‘Tree species diversity in managed Acadian forests of Eastern Canada’, Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 54(11), pp. 1339–1355.

Yao, Q. et al. (2022) ‘Error analysis of measuring the diameter, tree height, and volume of standing tree using electronic theodolite’, Sustainability, 14(12), p. 6950.

YOUSIF, H.A. and IBRAHIM, S.M. (2023) ‘HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS OF PINUS BRUTIA TEN. FROM UAV-1" CMOS DIGITAL CAMERA POINT CLOUDS IN GEVERKE-DUHOK GOVERNORATE, KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ’, Journal of Duhok University, 26(1), pp. 122–132.

Zhao, F. et al. (2014) ‘Measure method of tree height and volume using total station under canopy cover condition’, Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 30(2), pp. 182–190.

Zhou, D.Q., He, X.J. and Chen, G.W. (2019) ‘Design and application of barcode diameter-at-breast-height tape in forest inventories.’, Applied Ecology & Environmental Research, 17(6).