Machine Learning Techniques for Tree Species Classification Using Co-Registered LiDAR and Hyperspectral Data

The use of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) techniques for recording and analyzing tree and forest structural variables shows strong promise for improving established hyperspectral-based tree species classifications; however, previous multi-sensoral projects were often limited by error resulting from seasonal or flight path differences. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard’s LiDAR, hyperspectral, and thermal imager (G-LiHT) is now providing co-registered data on experimental forests in the United States, which are associated with established ground truths from existing forest plots. Free, user-friendly machine learning applications like the Orange Data Mining Extension for Python recently simplified the process of combining datasets, handling variable redundancy and noise, and reducing dimensionality in remotely sensed datasets. Neural networks, CN2 rules, and support vector machine methods are used here to achieve a final classification accuracy of 67% for dominant tree species in experimental plots of Howland Experimental Forest, a mixed coniferous–deciduous forest with ten dominant tree species, and 59% for plots in Penobscot Experimental Forest, a mixed coniferous–deciduous forest with 15 dominant tree species. These accuracies are higher than those produced using LiDAR or hyperspectral datasets separately, suggesting that combined spectral and structural data have a greater richness of complementary information than either dataset alone. Using greatly simplified datasets created by our dimensionality reduction methodology, machine learner performance remains comparable or higher to that using the full dataset. Across forests, the identification of shared structural and spectral variables suggests that this methodology can successfully identify parameters with high explanatory power for differentiating among tree species, and opens the possibility of addressing large-scale forestry questions using optimized remote sensing workflows.