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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (7): 1-14.DOI: 10.11686/cyxb2021454

   

Estimation of aboveground biomass in Menyuan grassland based on Landsat 8 and random forest approach

Yi-han ZHAO1(), Meng-jing HOU1, Qi-sheng FENG1, Hong-yuan GAO1, Tian-gang LIANG1(), Jin-sheng HE1,2, Da-wen QIAN3   

  1. 1.College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology,Lanzhou University,State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystem,Key Laboratory of Grassland Livestock Industry Innovation,Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,Engineering Research Center of Grassland Industry,Ministry of Education,Lanzhou 730020,China
    2.College of Urban and Environmental Science,Peking University,Beijing 100871,China
    3.Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology,Chinese Academy of Science,Xining 810008,China
  • Received:2021-12-09 Revised:2022-01-13 Online:2022-07-20 Published:2022-06-01
  • Contact: Tian-gang LIANG

Abstract:

Remote sensing monitoring of above-ground biomass (AGB) can quickly and objectively evaluate the growth status of grassland, which is important for ecological environment evaluation and grassland resource utilization. To improve the accuracy of remote sensing estimation of grassland AGB, a single factor regression model and a random forest (RF) model were constructed based on the vegetation index calculated from Landsat-8 OLI images from Menyuan County, Qinghai Province, to determine the best AGB remote sensing estimation model. The spatial distribution in the study area from 2019 to 2021 was inverted. The results were as follows: 1) Among 29 single factor regression models of vegetation indices evaluated, the correlation was high between AGB and five vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index, NDVI; red-blue NDVI, RBNDVI; green normalized difference vegetation index, GNVDI; modified simple ratio, MSR; transformed vegetation index, TVI), with R2 values above 0.49. NDVI had the highest accuracy with an R2 of 0.50 and a root mean square error (RMSE) of 702.89 kg·ha-1. 2) In the RF model, the R2 of the model built before variable screening was 0.61, and the RMSE was 621.14 kg·ha-1. After the variable screening, the model accuracy was improved slightly; the R2 was 0.62 and the RMSE is unchanged. The accuracy of the two models was better than that of the single-factor optimal regression model. Compared with the single-factor optimal regression model, the R2 was increased by 0.12 and the RMSE was decreased by 80.95 kg·ha-1. 3) The spatial distribution of AGB was higher in the northwest and lower in the southeast in Menyuan County. The biomass distribution was high in the central part of the county and lower towards the county boundaries. From 2019 to 2021, the total annual natural grassland yield in the county ranged from 4.2827×104 to 8.9776×104 t, and the average AGB ranged from 1063.49 to 1484.82 kg·ha-1. Alpine meadow is the main category of grassland, with yield ranging from 4.0825×104 to 5.6653×104 tfrom 2019 to 2021. The average AGB ranged from 1060.38 to 1471.94 kg·ha-1. The average AGB of montane meadows ranged from 1036.81 to 1637.43 kg·ha-1. The average AGB of temperate steppe ranged from 1198.72 to 1786.63 kg·ha-1.

Key words: Landsat8-OLI, grassland aboveground biomass, vegetation index, random forest, Menyuan County