Page 15 - Green knowledge 2024

Illustration: NIBIO
AI opens the door to single-tree-based forestry
The tree itself is the foundation of forest management, and accurate laser scanning data
describing individual trees can contribute to more precise and sustainable forest
management.
New research is making it easier to identify both
individual trees and their different parts using laser
scanning data.
An increasing amount of forest is being digitalised
through high-resolution laser scanning—using air-
craft, helicopters, drones, or ground-based person-
nel. Modern laser scanners can map forest structure
in a completely new way, opening new possibilities
for managing forests at the single-tree level.
A laser scanner emits pulses of infrared light into the
surroundings, and the reflected light points are cap-
tured by the scanner. Together, they form a point
cloud that describes the surface of the ground and
the vegetation, including the trees in the forest. This
information can then be used to describe forest char-
acteristics, tree species composition, and potential
forest management measures.
To help develop a new approach to forest manage-
ment, researchers from NIBIO and ETH Zurich in
Switzerland have explored innovative ways to iden-
tify individual trees using different lidar data collec-
tion methods. By applying machine learning and
neural networks, they have developed new data-
driven models that provide users with much more
detailed descriptions of individual trees in the forest.
The EU’s new forest strategy and the drive to
enhance biodiversity by 2030 highlight the need for
a shift towards forest management that places
greater emphasis on multifunctional forest services.
This new technology enables a transition from stand-
level forest management to single-tree-based forest
management.
Purpose: Collaboration: ETH Zurich
To facilitate the use of laser scanning data for identifying individual trees and their characteristics.
Funding: Contact: Centre for Research-Based Innovation (SFI) SmartForest (The Research Council of Norway) and
SingleTree (EU)
Research Scientist Stefano Puliti, Division of Forest and Forest Resources.
Email: stefano.puliti@nibio.no | Phone: +47 936 78 891
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