Hooman Latifi

K.N.Toosi University of Technology | KNTU · Faculty of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering

Deforestation remains a significant concern regarding climate change and biodiversity conservation. At the same time, the development of new image processing techniques and wide access to high spatial and temporal resolution satellite imagery have created unique conditions for monitoring deforestation. This is particularly important in areas such a...

Excessive tree mortality is a global concern and remains poorly understood as it is a complex phenomenon. We lack global and temporally continuous coverage on tree mortality data. Ground-based observations on tree mortality, e.g., derived from national inventories, are very sparse, not standardized and not spatially explicit. Earth observation data...

Tree decline in arid and semi-arid forest ecosystems causes severe socioeconomic and ecological problems and thus needs to be thoroughly quantified and monitored across space and time. This study investigates tree and forest decline in Iran's Zagros forests, considering environmental factors (e.g., topographic, soil, and climatic variables). We use...

The ongoing impacts of climatic changes, coupled with intensified human activities, are leading to a significant loss of plant diversity, prompting urgent calls for comprehensive monitoring of forest ecosystems. This is particularly concerning in regions with the encroachment of human activities into forest zones, and inadequate regulations that pr...

Climate change is one of the main factors that caused scarcity of fresh water phenomenon all over the world. The lack of water in major parts of Iraq affected all sectors that use water and cause obvious damages to ecosystems. Karbala province suffers from frequent water scarcity due to water scarcity and abnormally high temperatures. In the presen...

Appendices 1 and 2 for Saba et al. (2024)

This study aims to assess the spatio-temporal defoliation dynamics of box tree, one of the few evergreen species of the Hyrcanian Forests. For this, we integrated multi-temporal leaf-off optical Sentinel-2 and radar Sentinel-1 data from 2017 to 2021 with elevation data. A state-of-the-art sample migration approach was used to generate annual refere...

Remote sensing-assisted monitoring of forest health entails methods that can provide up-to-date and accurate information on decline and mortality of individual trees, while maintaining time and cost efficiency. However, the trade-off of applying consumer-grade UAV-RGB data as the most affordable and accessible data source at the catchment level is...

Three-dimensional (3D) point clouds are widely used for geomorphic change detection. However, the lack of efficient change-detection algorithms for complex terrain limits the use of 3D point clouds in area-wide morphological change studies. In this study, a complex terrain development process was simulated on a natural slope in the hilly and gully...

Generating and evaluating three-dimensional (3D) models of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in forest environments often pose challenges due to the low contrast texture features of trees, especially in presence of sparse trees cover. Producing an accurate 3D model often involves testing a range of scenarios and processing settings that leads to the...

A Novel Method for Evaluating UAV-derived 3D Forest Models by Tree Features

Tree decline, tree groups, Zagros forests, driver analysis, bare soil, Sentinel-2

Tree height is one of the key parameters in forest plantations that plays a crucial role in estimation of above-ground biomass (AGB) of trees and stands. The parameter may be obtained by different methods from airborne remotely sensed datasets such shadow length of each tree individual or crown height models (CHMs). However, tree height estimation...

Pollarding oak trees is a traditional silvopastoral technique practiced across wide areas of the northern Zagros mountains, a unique and vast semi-arid forest area with a strong cultural and ecological significance. So far, the effects of pollarding on tree structure in terms of DBH (diameter at breast height)~H (height) relationships within the ty...

Successful control of erosion requires effective monitoring and an in-depth understanding of erosion processes over large areas. Data from repeated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) light detection and ranging (LiDAR) acquisitions have been one important option to derive erosion-related information across large areas for example by calculating a digit...

Detecting forest decline is crucial for effective forest management in arid and semi-arid regions. Remote sensing using satellite image time series is useful for identifying reduced photosynthetic activity caused by defoliation. However, current studies face limitations in detecting forest decline in sparse semi-arid forests. In this study, three L...

Regardless of the regeneration origin, forest classification by tree growth form (multi-stem vs. single-stem) is essential for forest resource assessment in arid and semi-arid ecosystems, as they relate to a wide variety of ecosystem services like aboveground biomass and applications like forest decline monitoring. However, studies on UAV photogram...

1. Remote sensing (RS) and geospatial sciences already amount to a long history of fostering research in topics related to ecology. Data and methods have mainly been subject to research and experiments, but trends are now emerging that suggest the use of RS in practical applications like nationwide monitoring programs and assisting global conservat...

Tree decline is a highly complex process and is inherently a function of manifold climatic, physiologic, and anthropogenic factors. Monitoring decline processes and their underlying dynamics primarily entails identifying their location and intensity across different ecosystems, for which airborne and satellite remote sensing approaches offer cost-e...

According to recent studies, many semi-arid forests are rapidly declining, which necessitates a profound understanding of the processes and causes of degradation. The Zagros Forest in Iran has been degraded during the past few decades. The analysis of forest degradation in this region is still in its initial phases, with no detailed investigation o...

The Hyrcanian Forests comprise a continuous 800-km belt of mostly deciduous broadleaf forests and are considered as Iran’s most important vegetation region in terms of density, canopy cover and species diversity. One of the few evergreen species of the Hyrcanian Forests is the box tree (Buxus), which is seriously threatened by box blight disease an...

Forest measurement in semi-arid ecosystems and protective stands like Zagros forests is essential for collecting primary information as well as those related to biometrical, ecological and conservational aspects. While the access, time, logistics, financial and lack of trained staff hamper the timely and frequent implementation of forest inventory...

Crown area is one of the key parameters in determining tree growth and an important basis for estimation of biophysical characteristics at single-tree levels in natural and man-made forests. Therefore, the present study was aimed to improve the estimation of crown area on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) data using a novel method in a Pinus eldarica m...

Agroforestry systems (AFS) offer viable solutions for climate change because of the above-ground biomass (AGB) that is maintained by the tree component. Therefore, spatially explicit estimation of their AGB is crucial for reporting emission reduction efforts, which can be enabled using remote sensing (RS) data and methods. However, multiple factors...

Monitoring tree decline in arid and semi-arid zones requires methods that can provide up-to-date and accurate information on the health status of the trees at single-tree and sample plot levels. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are considered as cost-effective and efficient tools to study tree structure and health at small scale, on which detecting...

Cocoa growing is one of the main activities in humid West Africa, which is mainly grown in pure stands. It is the main driver of deforestation and encroachment in protected areas. Cocoa agroforestry systems which have been promoted to mitigate deforestation, needs to be accurately delineated to support a valid monitoring system. Therefore, the aim...

The aim of this study was to compare the performance of the Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm with pixel and basic object-oriented approaches for identifying the crown of single pine trees in a man-made forest. For this purpose, the SVM algorithm was evaluated based on four different kernels: Linear, Polynomial, RBF and Sigmoid. In pixel base...

Coal mining, an important human activity, disturbs soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and decomposition, eventually affecting terrestrial carbon cycling and the sustainability of human society. However, changes of SOC content and their relation with influential factors in coal mining areas remained unclear. In the study, predictive models of SO...

Introduction and Objective: In a proper planning of the forest sector, the preparation of quantitative and qualitative maps is a management requirement and is unavoidable for sustainable development. For this effective planning, the latest information on the types of characteristics that are important in decisions regarding the optimal use and prot...

Global remote sensing based forest cover products are available in a variety of quality levels. However, these products frequently underestimate the presence of woody cover due to the low cover density and the effect of bright soil background in arid and semi-arid vegetation.

Vegetation cover maps across ecologically-fragile and particularly arid and semi-arid forest ecosystems are prerequisites for their monitoring and management. Direct and field-based measurements of vegetation cover pose serious challenges due to high costs and inaccessibility in harsh terrains, whereas multispectral remote sensing offers objective,...

جنگل‌ها نقش اساسی در حفاظت از منابع آب و خاک ایفا می کنند و خدمات اکوسیستمی متعددی را ارائه می دهد. به همین دلیل باید پایش مستمر در جنگل‌ها انجام شود. کمی سازی ساختار جنگلی از جمله اقدامات مهم در این راستا است. در این تحقیق، ما چارچوبی مبتنی بر فتوگرامتری پهپاد، جهت اندازه‌گیری متغیرهای ساختاری مهم ارتفاع (H) و سطح تاج (A) درختان در سرتاسر جنگل‌های...

پایش تالاب ها برای حفاظت از آنها ضروری است. در این راستا سنجش از دور به دلیل در دسترس بودن تصاویر آرشیوی و تاریخی مقرون به صرفه در مقیاس های مکانی مختلف راه حل های کارآمدی را ارائه می دهد. با این حال، فقدان نمونه‌های آموزشی کافی در زمان‌های مختلف محدودیت قابل‌توجهی برای پایش چند زمانی زیست بوم های تالابی است. در این مطالعه، یک روش جدید مبتنی بر انت...

Biodiversity assessment and forest management require accurate tree species maps, which can be provided by remote sensing. Whereas the application of high-spatial resolution remote sensing data is constrained by high costs, Sentinel-2 (S2) satellites provide free imagery with appropriate spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions for mapping of var...

Supplementary Materials for publication titled as : Comparing Time-Lapse PhenoCams with Satellite Observations across the Boreal Forest of Quebec, Canada (https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/1/100/htm)

Intercomparison of satellite-derived vegetation phenology is scarce in remote locations because of the limited coverage area and low temporal resolution of field observations. By their reliable near-ground observations and high-frequency data collection, PhenoCams can be a robust tool for intercomparison of land surface phenology derived from satel...

Management zones (MZ) are defined as sub-units of farm fields with a relatively homogeneous combination of yield-limiting factors. Each zone can be managed with a different but specific single-rate management practice to maximize the efficiency of farm inputs in the context of precision agriculture. The purpose of this work was to generate MZ based...

The classification of agroforestry systems is subjected to prediction error in the forest Zone of West Africa. The source of the error is linked to the nature of agroforestry systems (trees and crop manage together) creating a very heterogenous landscape, which is difficult to map. To monitor cocoa expansion and encroachment in protected areas, we...

Woody canopy cover is an essential variable to characterize and monitor vegetation health, carbon accumulation and land-atmosphere exchange processes. Remote sensing-based global woody and forest cover maps are available, yet with varying qualities. In arid and semi-arid areas, existing global products often underestimate the presence of woody cove...

Enhancing digital and precision agriculture is currently inevitable to overcome the economic and environmental challenges of the agriculture in the 21st century. The purpose of this study was to generate and compare management zones (MZ) based on the Sentinel-2 satellite data for variable rate application of mineral nitrogen in wheat production, ca...

Gully erosion is a severe form of soil erosion. However, current understanding of the relative dominance of processes that drive the development of gully erosion is limited. This study investigated the development of gully erosion, and the contribution of mass movement and water erosion to gully erosion based on fourteen scouring experiments on two...

Semi-arid tree covers, in both high and coppice growth forms, play an essential role in protecting water and soil resources and provides multiple ecosystem services across fragile ecosystems. Thus, they require continuous inventories. Quantification of forest structure in these tree covers provides important measures for their management and biodiv...

Wetlands are one of the most important ecosystems due to their critical services to both humans and the environment. Therefore, wetland mapping and monitoring are essential for their conservation. In this regard, remote sensing offers efficient solutions due to the availability of cost-efficient archived images over different spatial scales. Howeve...

Freely available satellite data at Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform enables vegetation phenology analysis across different scales very efficiently. We evaluated seasonal and annual phenology of the old-growth Hyrcanian forests (HF) of northern Iran covering an area of ca. 1.9 million ha, and also focused on 15 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. W...

Effects of climate change-induced events on forest ecosystem dynamics of composition, function and structure call for increased long-term, interdisciplinary and integrated research on biodiversity indicators, in particular within strictly protected areas with extensive non-intervention zones. The long-established concept of forest supersites genera...

LiDAR-based forest inventories focusing on estimating and mapping structure-related forest inventory variables across large areas have reached operationality. In the commonly applied area-based approach, a set of field-measured inventory plots is combined with spatially co-located airborne laserscanning data to train empirical models that can then...

Khare, Siddhartha (2020), “Data for: A 15-year spatio-temporal analysis of plant β-diversity using Landsat time series derived Rao's Q index”, Mendeley Data, V1, doi: 10.17632/9v72bdyxfk.1

My talk @ the KNTU/IBL Joint Webinar 2020. Not an ultimate prescription, but rather my own empirical-based perspective. Views and comments are welcome!

Understanding temporal dynamics of plant biodiversity is crucial for conservation strategies at regional and local levels. The mostly applied hitherto methods are based on field observations of the plant communities and the related taxa. Satellite earth observation time series offer continuous and wider coverage for the assessment of plant diversit...

Regular biomass estimations for natural and plantation forests are important to support sustainable forestry and to calculate carbon-related statistics. The application of remote sensing data to estimate biomass of forests has been amply demonstrated but there is still space for increasing the efficiency of current approaches. Here, we investigated...

Protection and recovery of natural resource and biodiversity requires accurate monitoring at multiple scales. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) provides high-resolution imagery that is valuable for monitoring structural changes to vegetation, providing a reliable reference for ecological analyses and comparison purposes, especially if used in conjuncti...

Background and objectives: Estimating the biomass and carbon content of trees and the other crops is important, in particular in context of global warming and climate change resilience and the determination of biomass in order to influence the climate and management of natural resources is essential. In forest areas with high altitudinal gradients,...

Background: Traditional field-based methods of measurement of biomass and carbon storage face difficulty in collecting time-consuming and expensive, suggests the use of remote sensing-based techniques. It estimates the economic value of the aboveground biomass (AGB) using satellite remote sensing across the Hyrcanian forests of Iran. Methods: The L...

Plantations established in highly-pollutant industrial areas have a crucial role to absorb greenhouse gases, particularly CO2. A thorough monitoring of their aboveground biomass and carbon balance is essential to ensure their beneficial effects. This can be operationally supported by using a combination of field and multispectral stereo remote sens...

This is an edited book dedicated to a previously published Special Issue of Forests. In this Special Issue, we published a set of state-of-the-art scientific works from a rather wide range of experimental studies, method developments and model validations, all dealing with the general topic of 3D remote sensing-assisted applications in monitoring f...

In mountainous areas with sparse woody vegetation, tree cover is among the most crucial indicators for landscape conservation and ecosystem stability. It is thus essential to be continuously monitored, which is yet seriously hurdled by harsh topography and inaccessibility. Field-based methods are time consuming and costly and are thus particularly...

Zagros Mountains in western Iran provides multiple ecosystem services. In semi-arid forests, comprehensive information on forest density gives a clear picture of the status of the forests. Forest density is an important parameter to identify declining forest areas from the satellite data as too sparse canopy cover may lead to a weak signal that may...

Stereo photogrammetry enables collecting precise and detailed three-dimensional data of terrestrial objects. The estimation of qualitative and quantitative tree attributes, in particular those related to geometric measures, is crucial for forest management. In this study, a stereo imaging system is designed in order to measure a set of geometric at...

PPT of the workshop session held for 4 hours