ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Remote Sens.
Sec. Remote Sensing Time Series Analysis
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frsen.2025.1588387
Integrating MODIS-Derived Indices for Eucalyptus Stand Volume Estimation: An Evaluation of MODIS Gross Primary Production
Provisionally accepted
Manizheh Rajab Pourrahmati1*
Guerric Le Maire2,3
Nicolas Baghdadi1
Clayton Alcarde Alvares4,5
Jose Luiz Stape5Henrique Ferraco Scolforo4
Otávio Camargo Campoe6
Yann Nouvellon2,3
Joannès Guillemot2,3,7- 1CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, TETIS, University of Montpellier, AgroParisTech, CEDEX 5, 34093, Montpellier, France
- 2CIRAD, UMR Eco&Sols, montpellier, France
- 3Eco&Sols, Univ Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, IRD, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France
- 4Suzano SA, Estrada Limeira, 391, 13465-970, Limeira, SP, Brazil
- 5Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Forest Science, 18610, Botucatu, Brazil
- 6Department of Forest Sciences, Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), 37.200-900, Lavras, MG, Brazil
- 7Department of Forest Sciences, ESALQ, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil
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Accurate estimates of stand volume dynamics in Eucalyptus plantations is critical for sustainable forest management and wood production. This study investigates the integration of MODIS-derived indices, such as gross primary production (GPP), net photosynthesis (PSN) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), with traditional age-based methods to improve stand volume estimation in Eucalyptus plantations. MODIS GPP was first evaluated against flux tower measurements, showing moderate agreement and systematic biases, particularly during periods of highest and lowest productivity in the first years after planting, with an RMSE of 19.65 gC m -2 8day -1 and R 2 of 0.38. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and two machine learning models, including random forest (RF) and stochastic gradient boosting (SGB), were used to estimate stand volume by incorporating cumulative MODIS indices (Cgpp, Cpsn and Cndvi) and stand age. The SGB model showed the best performance using the full dataset, including stands aged from 1.6 to 8.4 years, with an RMSE of 23.30 m³ ha -1 , an rRMSE of 17.49% and an R² of 0.89. We showed that including cumulative indices from the first two years of growth significantly improved the model's ability to predict growth dynamics in middle-aged to mature stands. These results highlight the utility of MODIS productivity products for medium to large-scale plantation management, providing scalable and cost-effective monitoring of stand volume.
Keywords: Eucalyptus plantations, Volume estimation, MODIS Gross primary production, MODIS net photosynthesis, MODIS normalized difference vegetation index
Received: 05 Mar 2025; Accepted: 22 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rajab Pourrahmati, Le Maire, Baghdadi, Alvares, Stape, Scolforo, Campoe, Nouvellon and Guillemot. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Manizheh Rajab Pourrahmati, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, TETIS, University of Montpellier, AgroParisTech, CEDEX 5, 34093, Montpellier, France
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