Large‐scale, image‐based tree species mapping in a tropical forest using artificial perceptual learning
- Information about the spatial distribution of species lies at the heart of many important questions in ecology. Logistical limitations and collection biases, however, limit the availability of such data at ecologically relevant scales. Remotely sensed information can alleviate some of these concerns, but presents challenges associated with accurate species identification and limited availability of field data for validation, especially in high diversity ecosystems such as tropical forests.
- Recent advances in machine learning offer a promising and cost‐efficient approach for gathering a large amount of species distribution data from aerial photographs. Here, we propose a novel machine learning framework, artificial perceptual learning (APL), to tackle the problem of weakly supervised pixel‐level mapping of tree species in forests. Challenges arise from limited availability of ground labels for tree species, lack of precise segmentation of tree canopies and misalignment between visible canopies in the aerial images and stem locations associated with ground labels. The proposed APL framework addresses these challenges by constructing a workflow using state‐of‐the‐art machine learning algorithms.
- We develop and illustrate the proposed framework by implementing a fine‐grain mapping of three species, the palm Prestoea acuminata and the tree species Cecropia schreberiana and Manilkara bidentata, over a 5,000‐ha area of El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. These large‐scale maps are based on unlabelled high‐resolution aerial images of unsegmented tree canopies. Misaligned ground‐based labels, available for <1% of these images, serve as the only weak supervision. APL performance is evaluated using ground‐based labels and high‐quality human segmentation using Amazon Mechanical Turk, and compared to a basic workflow that relies solely on labelled images.
- Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and Intersection over Union (IoU) metrics demonstrate that APL substantially outperforms the basic workflow and attains human‐level cognitive economy, with 50‐fold time savings. For the palm and C. schreberiana, the APL framework has high pixelwise accuracy and IoU with reference to human segmentations. For M. bidentata, APL predictions are congruent with ground‐based labels. Our approach shows great potential for leveraging existing data from global forest plot networks coupled with aerial imagery to map tree species at ecologically meaningful spatial scales.
Journal:
Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Year:
2021
Volume:
12
Issue:
4
Pages:
608-618
DOI:
10.1111/2041-210X.13549
Site:
Luquillo
Link:
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