Prediction of dendrometric variables by optical data in Pinus taeda L. in the south of Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this work was to estimate the basal area and volume of a Pinus taeda L. settlement located in Santa Catarina, correlating data from an orbital image of the Landsat-8 / OLI sensor and forest inventory. In this sense, a forest research was carried out, with a random sampling process using the fixed area method. 20 circular parcels of 400 m² were allocated. An orbital image of the Landsat-8 / OLI sensor was used and 10 average vegetation indices per plot were calculated. These were correlated as variables of volume and basal area per plot, decorative by the forest inventory. The index with the best correlation for the volume was GNDVI with 0.47 and for a basal area, the MVI with 0.51. The adjustment of the regression models showed adjusted R² indices of 0.5639 and Syx of 13.31% for volume, and 0.5213 and 11.93% for the basal area. It was possible to estimate the volume and basal area of the stands through the spectral data, however, it is recommended that this same technique be tested in other species of the genus Pinus spp. and with high spatial resolution media.