Forest inventories by LiDAR data: A comparison of single tree segmentation and metric-based methods for inventories of a heterogeneous temperate forest

• This paper focuses on evaluating two main methods for LiDAR-based forest inventory.
• We modeled a set of essential structural forest attributes.
• Cross-validated area-based models were mostly accurate for operational usage.
• Single tree-based estimations were highly correlated with area-based estimations and ground data.
• We recommend LiDAR forest inventories at the landscape scale in temperate stands.

Inventories of temperate forests of Central Europe mainly rely on terrestrial measurements. Rapid alterations of forests by disturbances and multilayer silvicultural systems increasingly challenge the use of conventional plot based inventories, particularly in protected areas. Airborne LiDAR offers an alternative or supplement to conventional inventories, but despite the possibility of obtaining such remote sensing data, its operational use for broader areas in Central Europe remains experimental. We evaluated two methods of forest inventory that use LiDAR data at the landscape level: the single tree segment-based method and an area-based method. We compared a set of structural forest attributes modeled by these methods with a conventional forest inventory of the highly heterogeneous forest of the Bavarian Forest National Park (Germany), which partially includes stands affected by severe natural disturbances. Area-based models were accurate for all structural attributes, with cross-validated average root mean squared error ranging from ∼3.4 to ∼13.4 in the best modeling case. The coefficients of variation for the mapped area-based estimations were mostly minor. The area-based estimations were varied but highly correlated (Pearson’s correlations between ∼ 0.56 and 0.85) with single tree segmentation estimations; undetected trees in the single tree segmentat-based method were the main sources of inconsistency. The single tree segment-based method was highly correlated (∼ 0.54 to 0.90) with data from ground-based forest inventories. The single tree-based algorithm delivered highly reliable estimates for a set of forest structural attributes that are of interest in forest inventories at the landscape scale. We recommend LiDAR forest inventories at the landscape scale in both heterogeneous commercial forests and large protected areas in the central European temperate sites.