title: Artificial Intelligence Procedures for Tree Taper Estimation within a Complex Vegetation Mosaic in Brazil.
abstract: Tree stem form in native tropical forests is very irregular, posing a challenge to establishing taper equations that can accurately predict the diameter at any height along the stem and subsequently merchantable volume. Artificial intelligence approaches can be useful techniques in minimizing estimation errors within complex variations of vegetation. We evaluated the performance of Random Forest® regression tree and Artificial Neural Network procedures in modelling stem taper. Diameters and volume outside bark were compared to a traditional taper-based equation across a tropical Brazilian savanna, a seasonal semi-deciduous forest and a rainforest. Neural network models were found to be more accurate than the traditional taper equation. Random forest showed trends in the residuals from the diameter prediction and provided the least precise and accurate estimations for all forest types. This study provides insights into the superiority of a neural network, which provided advantages regarding the handling of local effects.
authors.affiliation: Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, United Kingdom.|Department of Forest Sciences, College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, 13418-900, Brazil.
authors.forename: Matheus Henrique
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Sciences, College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, 13418-900, Brazil.|Department of Forestry, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, Diamantina, MG, 39100-000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eric Bastos
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2517-0279
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Görgens
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001185:Artificial Intelligence; D001938:Brazil; D017753:Ecosystem; D065928:Forests; D005843:Geography; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development