Estimating Mean Tree Crown Diameter of Mangrove Stands Using Aerial Photo

Geostatistics was applied to estimate mean tree crown diameter using high spatial resolution aerial photo of three different mangrove forest structure in the Mahakam Delta, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The variogram analysis of the aerial photo was succeeded to estimate mean tree crown diameter of mangrove forest of Mahakam Delta. The Range of variogram was used to predict mean tree crown diameter and came to result with the error about 6.19% or less than 0.5 m. Based on this study, green band looks promising but still need more exploration and further test especially for complex canopy structure such as lowland Dipterocarp forest which completely distinct to Mangrove forest. Despite of its successness, variogram was not succeed to estimate mean crown diameter of high density mangrove forest plantation sites. Close-spacing plantation suppressed tree crown growth and development. In the aerial photo, it produced smooth texture feature of tree crown with less edge of shadow. Consequently, tree crown became indistinguishable.