Rights statement: This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Forestry following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Jon Murray, George Alan Blackburn, James Duncan Whyatt, Christopher Edwards; Using fractal analysis of crown images to measure the structural condition of trees, Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, Volume 91, Issue 4, 1 October 2018, Pages 480–491, https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpy008 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/forestry/article/91/4/480/4955779
Accepted author manuscript, 2.07 MB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Using fractal analysis of crown images to measure the structural condition of trees
AU - Murray, Jon
AU - Blackburn, George Alan
AU - Whyatt, James Duncan
AU - Edwards, Christopher James
N1 - This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Forestry following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Jon Murray, George Alan Blackburn, James Duncan Whyatt, Christopher Edwards; Using fractal analysis of crown images to measure the structural condition of trees, Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, Volume 91, Issue 4, 1 October 2018, Pages 480–491, https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpy008 is available online at: https://academic.oup.com/forestry/article/91/4/480/4955779
PY - 2018/10
Y1 - 2018/10
N2 - Observations of tree canopy structure are routinely used as an indicator of tree condition for the purposes of monitoring tree health, assessing habitat characteristics or evaluating the potential risk of tree failure. Trees are assigned to broad categories of structural condition using largely subjective methods based upon ground-based, visual observations by a surveyor. Such approaches can suffer from a lack of consistency between surveyors; are qualitative in nature and have low precision. In this study, a technique is developed for acquiring, processing and analysing hemispherical images of sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) tree crowns. We demonstrate that by calculating the fractal dimensions of tree crown images it is possible to define a continuous measurement scale of structural condition and to be able to quantify intra-category variance of tree crown structure. This approach corresponds with traditional categorical methods; however, we recognize that further work is required to precisely define interspecies thresholds. Our study demonstrates that this approach has the potential to form the basis of a new, transferable and objective methodology that can support a wide range of uses in arboriculture, ecology and forest science.
AB - Observations of tree canopy structure are routinely used as an indicator of tree condition for the purposes of monitoring tree health, assessing habitat characteristics or evaluating the potential risk of tree failure. Trees are assigned to broad categories of structural condition using largely subjective methods based upon ground-based, visual observations by a surveyor. Such approaches can suffer from a lack of consistency between surveyors; are qualitative in nature and have low precision. In this study, a technique is developed for acquiring, processing and analysing hemispherical images of sessile oak (Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl.) tree crowns. We demonstrate that by calculating the fractal dimensions of tree crown images it is possible to define a continuous measurement scale of structural condition and to be able to quantify intra-category variance of tree crown structure. This approach corresponds with traditional categorical methods; however, we recognize that further work is required to precisely define interspecies thresholds. Our study demonstrates that this approach has the potential to form the basis of a new, transferable and objective methodology that can support a wide range of uses in arboriculture, ecology and forest science.
U2 - 10.1093/forestry/cpy008
DO - 10.1093/forestry/cpy008
M3 - Journal article
VL - 91
SP - 480
EP - 491
JO - Forestry
JF - Forestry
SN - 0015-752X
IS - 4
ER -