Airborne LiDAR and high resolution multispectral data integration in Eucalyptus tree species mapping in an Australian farmscape

Abstract

Rapid decline and death of rural Eucalypts trees of all ages and species have been reported in the farmscapes of regional Australia due to various environmental and farming management related factors. The identification of existing farm tree species is important for long term management strategies to provide ecosystem stability in the region. This study explored the feasibility of structural attributes of LiDAR and spectral and spatial characteristics of high resolution remote sensing data to identify and map Eucalyptus tree species. An object based image segmentation and rule-based classification algorithm were developed to delineate tree boundaries and species classification. The integration of two datasets improved the classification accuracy (65%) against their separate classification (52% and 41%, respectively). The identification of tree species will help in getting first-hand information on existing farm trees, which may be used in assessing tree condition in time series related to management practices and complex dieback problem.