A comprehensive but efficient framework of proposing and validating feature parameters from airborne LiDAR data for tree species classification

• Tree species information is crucial for forest management and understanding.
• New efficient techniques for classifying tree species are extensively demanded.
• Airborne laser scanning (ALS) or LiDAR may supply a high-potential solution.
• A new primary category of crown-internal (CI) feature parameters were proposed.
• A comprehensive but efficient framework was proposed and validated.

Tree species information is crucial for digital forestry, and efficient techniques for classifying tree species are extensively demanded. To this end, airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) has been introduced. However, the literature review suggests that most of the previous airborne LiDAR-based studies were only based on limited kinds of tree signatures. To address this gap, this study proposed developing a novel modular framework for LiDAR-based tree species classification, by deriving feature parameters in a systematic way. Specifically, feature parameters of point-distribution (PD), laser pulse intensity (IN), crown-internal (CI) and tree-external (TE) structures were proposed and derived. With a support-vector-machine (SVM) classifier used, the classifications were conducted in a leave-one-out-for-cross-validation (LOOCV) mode. Based on the samples of four typical boreal tree species, i.e., Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris, Populus tremula and Quercus robur, tests showed that the accuracies of the classifications based on the acquired PD-, IN-, CI- and TE-categorized feature parameters as well as the integration of their individual optimal parameters are 65.00%, 80.00%, 82.50%, 85.00% and 92.50%, respectively. These results indicate that the procedures proposed in this study can be used as a comprehensive but efficient framework of proposing and validating feature parameters from airborne LiDAR data for tree species classification.