Distribution of Bird Habitats Using UCD-image Analysis : the Case of the Shinshu University Campus Research Forest

The habitat of forest bird species depends on forest type. We analyzed the distribution of birds inhabiting the Shinshu University Agriculture Faculty’s campus research forest. A bird observation database and image classification were used to complete the analysis. Birds were most frequently observed in broad-leaved forest areas of the campus forest, but this differed slightly among species. Thus, our results showed differences between species.Article信州大学農学部紀要. 46(1-2): 113-118 (2010)departmental bulletin pape

Species composition and forest structure in tropical moist deciduous forest of Bangladesh-a case study in Thakurgaon

This study was conducted in the tropical moist deciduous forest in Bangladesh to describe the species composition, diversity, and the forest structure. There were three plots established in Ranishonkoil, Ruhia, and Baliadangi forest beat in Thakurgaon. A total of 126 tree species, 1,991 stems (663 ha(-1)) of a parts per thousand yen10-cm girth were listed. Tree communities in these forest region differed in dominance, composition, diversity, and structure; and tree stand density varied from 651 to 685 ha(-1). Species diversity (H(1)) ranges from 3.11 to 3.48. Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, and Rubiaceae were the most abundant families within the three plot area. Study site 2 is more diverse at spatial scale and taxonomic levels due to high rainfall and favorable edaphic condition. This study will help the foresters as baseline information for monitoring and sustaining diversity of tropical moist deciduous forests in Bangladesh.ArticleARABIAN JOURNAL OF GEOSCIENCES. 4(7-8):1315-1321 (2011)journal articl

Damage Analysis of Pine Wilt Disease Using GIS in Komagane City Forest, Nagano Prefecture, Japan

The purpose of this study is to detect and analysis of pine wilt damaged area in Komagane City, Nagano Prefecture. The pinewood nematode has introduced pine wilt which is an important non-native disease and causes harmful condition to the red pine tree and the forest. The aim of this study was to make a clear concept of damage and the present status of the red pine tree by applying GIS. This study is based on both primary and secondary data. The result determines the comparison of forest condition before and after the attack of pine beetles.Article信州大学農学部紀要. 46(1-2): 93-98 (2010)departmental bulletin pape

Perceptions of Local People toward Community Development and Forest Conservation in Bangladesh: The Case of Sal Forests

ArticleJournal of Forest Planning. 22(1): 29-38. (2017)journal articl

Interpretation of Forest Resources at the Individual Tree Level at Purple Mountain, Nanjing City, China, Using WorldView-2 Imagery by Combining GPS, RS and GIS Technologies

This study attempted to measure forest resources at the individual tree level using high-resolution images by combining GPS, RS, and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies. The images were acquired by the WorldView-2 satellite with a resolution of 0.5 m in the panchromatic band and 2.0 m in the multispectral bands. Field data of 90 plots were used to verify the interpreted accuracy. The tops of trees in three groups, namely 10 cm, 15 cm, and 20 cm DBH (diameter at breast height), were extracted by the individual tree crown (ITC) approach using filters with moving windows of 3 x 3 pixels, 5 x 5 pixels and 7 x 7 pixels, respectively. In the study area, there were 1,203,970 trees of DBH over 10 cm, and the interpreted accuracy was 73.68 +/- 15.14% averaged over the 90 plots. The numbers of the trees that were 15 cm and 20 cm DBH were 727,887 and 548,919, with an average accuracy of 68.74 +/- 17.21% and 71.92 +/- 18.03%, respectively. The pixel-based classification showed that the classified accuracies of the 16 classes obtained using the eight multispectral bands were higher than those obtained using only the four standard bands. The increments ranged from 0.1% for the water class to 17.0% for Metasequoia glyptostroboides, with an average value of 4.8% for the 16 classes. In addition, to overcome the mixed pixels problem, a crown-based supervised classification, which can improve the classified accuracy of both dominant species and smaller classes, was used for generating a thematic map of tree species. The improvements of the crown- to pixel-based classification ranged from -1.6% for the open forest class to 34.3% for Metasequoia glyptostroboides, with an average value of 20.3% for the 10 classes. All tree tops were then annotated with the species attributes from the map, and a tree count of different species indicated that the forest of Purple Mountain is mainly dominated by Quercus acutissima, Liquidambar formosana and Pinus massoniana. The findings from this study lead to the recommendation of using the crown-based instead of the pixel-based classification approach in classifying mixed forests.ArticleREMOTE SENSING. 6(1):87-110 (2014)journal articl

Applications of the new Remote Sensing Method to the Forest Biomass Estimation

For accurate measurement of forest biomass in the Akazawa Forest Reserve, this study analyzed texture measures derived from GeoEye-1 satellite data using the individual tree crown (ITC) method. On this basis, canopy area, tree tops and tree species of individual trees were delineated. Canopy area was used to calculate the DBH of trees in canopy layer based on canopy-DBH curve in this stand. In this study, the estimation models, between DBH and height, and between canopy area and DBH were developed by linear regression using forest survey data. Then according to the results of satellite data interpreted the biomass of every tree was calculated by biomass expansion factor (BEF). This method was verified against the survey data from old–growth Chamaecyparis obtusa stand composed of various cover types. For Chamaecyparis obtusa, the accuracy of biomass estimation was higher than 84%. However, the accuracy of Chamaecyparis pisifera was less than 60%, because some Chamaecyparis pisifera trees were misidentified as Chamaecyparis obtusa, and canopy area of Chamaecyparis pisifera was underestimated in the high-density stand. For Thujopsis dolabrata, the accuracy ranged from 22.4 % to 78.9%, and from 63.4% to 84.6% for broad-leaved trees, because many of them were understory. These results indicated that estimation of old-growth forest biomass based on high resolution satellite data, might be validated for estimating biomass at the individual tree level improved by developing and applying forest stratum–specific models with the ITC-survey data as a bridging reference in addition to spectral information. This approach is useful for biomass estimation whether is used to calculate biomass of individual tree or forest.ArticleThe International Journal of Sciences. 2(8):1-13 (2013)journal articl

Individual shape and composition analysis of urban atmospheric aerosols using FIB-TOF-SIMS

Minute solid or liquid particles suspended in air are called aerosols. Aerosols can be of natural origin, such as yellow sand, or of anthropogenic origin, such as railroad wear dust. Bulk analysis has been used for the chemical analysis of aerosols with such various sources. However, bulk analysis can only determine the average chemical composition of a group of particles and cannot, in principle, analyze the chemical composition of individual particles. In our group, we have developed an FIB-TOF-SIMS (Focused Ion Beam Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer) to analyze the compositional distribution of individual particles . Our investigations have revealed that there is a certain correlation between particle composition (source) and particle shape. In addition, it is important to understand the composition and shape of particles originating from urban areas because the traffic volume is relatively high in urban areas and there is concern about the emission of large amounts of aerosols and their health effects on human health. In this study, we sampled aerosols in Shinjuku area and analyzed them using FIB-TOF-SIMS. In this presentation, we will report the component analysis of urban atmospheric aerosols and the shape characteristics of the particles

Terrestrial laser scanning intensity captures diurnal variation in leaf water potential

During the past decades, extreme events have become more prevalent and last longer, and as a result drought-induced plant mortality has increased globally. Timely information on plant water dynamics is essential for understanding and anticipating drought-induced plant mortality. Leaf water potential (ΨL), which is usually measured destructively, is the most common metric that has been used for decades for measuring water stress. Remote sensing methods have been developed to obtain information on water dynamics from trees and forested landscapes. However, the spatial and temporal resolutions of the existing methods have limited our understanding of the water dynamics and diurnal variation of ΨL within single trees. Thus, we investigated the capability of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) intensity in observing diurnal variation in ΨL during a 50-h monitoring period. We aimed to improve the understanding on how large a part of the diurnal variation in ΨL can be captured using TLS intensity observations. We found that TLS intensity at the 905 nm wavelength measured from a static position was able to explain 77% of the variation in ΨL for three trees of two tree species with a root mean square error of 0.141 MPa. Based on our experiment with three trees, a time series of TLS intensity measurements can be used in detecting changes in ΨL, and thus it is worthwhile to expand the investigations to cover a wider range of tree species and forests and further increase our understanding of plant water dynamics at wider spatial and temporal scales