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Volume 16
Issue 12
10.3390/f16121765
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Aboveground Biomass Inversion Using DTM-Independent Crown Metrics from UAV Stereoscopic Imagery in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains

by
Qiang Wang
1,2,
Yu Wang
1,
Wenjian Ni
2,3,*,
Tianyu Yu
2,3,
Zhiyu Zhang
2,3,
Peizhe Qin
1,
Zongling Jiang
1,
Xiaoling Yin
1 and
Jie Wang
2,3
1
Department of Surveying Engineering, Heilongjiang Institute of Technology, Harbin 150040, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
3
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Forests 2025, 16(12), 1765; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16121765 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 3 October 2025 / Revised: 16 November 2025 / Accepted: 20 November 2025 / Published: 23 November 2025
(This article belongs to the Section Forest Inventory, Modeling and Remote Sensing)
Review Reports Versions Notes

Abstract

The utilization of photography imagery captured using cameras mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for aboveground biomass (AGB) inventory has seen rapid growth in recent years. Existing research has predominantly focused on utilizing spectral and textural features for biomass inversion. However, estimating the AGB of trees remains a great challenge using stereoscopic imagery without the help of a digital terrain model (DTM). This study introduces five DTM-independent crown metrics using a digital surface model (DSM) and a canopy height model (CHM) derived from UAV stereoscopic imagery. The accuracy of the five metrics was evaluated against field measurements. The results indicate that the relationship between the crown cross-sectional area (CCSA) and AGB is stronger than that between tree height (TH) and AGB, with R2 = 0.62 and RMSE = 69.22 (kg/tree) for Larix gmelinii and R2 = 0.93 and RMSE = 142.06 (kg/tree) for Pinus sylvestris. Moreover, these DTM-independent crown metrics could be used to estimate the AGB of forests in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountain, with R2 = 0.77 and RMSE = 77.10 (kg/tree) for coniferous trees and R2 = 0.78 and RMSE = 72.46 (kg/tree) for all other trees. The results of this study demonstrate that UAV stereoscopic imagery can capture forest canopy information, and DTM-independent crown metrics can be used for AGB inversion where information on terrain under forest is unavailable.
Keywords: stereoscopic imagery; aboveground biomass (AGB); unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); crown metrics; digital terrain model (DTM) stereoscopic imagery; aboveground biomass (AGB); unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV); crown metrics; digital terrain model (DTM)

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Wang, Q.; Wang, Y.; Ni, W.; Yu, T.; Zhang, Z.; Qin, P.; Jiang, Z.; Yin, X.; Wang, J. Aboveground Biomass Inversion Using DTM-Independent Crown Metrics from UAV Stereoscopic Imagery in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains. Forests 2025, 16, 1765. https://doi.org/10.3390/f16121765

AMA Style

Wang Q, Wang Y, Ni W, Yu T, Zhang Z, Qin P, Jiang Z, Yin X, Wang J. Aboveground Biomass Inversion Using DTM-Independent Crown Metrics from UAV Stereoscopic Imagery in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains. Forests. 2025; 16(12):1765. https://doi.org/10.3390/f16121765

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wang, Qiang, Yu Wang, Wenjian Ni, Tianyu Yu, Zhiyu Zhang, Peizhe Qin, Zongling Jiang, Xiaoling Yin, and Jie Wang. 2025. "Aboveground Biomass Inversion Using DTM-Independent Crown Metrics from UAV Stereoscopic Imagery in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains" Forests 16, no. 12: 1765. https://doi.org/10.3390/f16121765

APA Style

Wang, Q., Wang, Y., Ni, W., Yu, T., Zhang, Z., Qin, P., Jiang, Z., Yin, X., & Wang, J. (2025). Aboveground Biomass Inversion Using DTM-Independent Crown Metrics from UAV Stereoscopic Imagery in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains. Forests, 16(12), 1765. https://doi.org/10.3390/f16121765

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