Science of the Total Environment 619–620 (2018) 1473–1481

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Science of the Total Environment

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Prognoses of diameter and height of trees of eucalyptus using

artificial intelligence
Giovanni Correia Vieira ⁎, Adriano Ribeiro de Mendonça, Gilson Fernandes da Silva, Sidney Sára Zanetti,
Mayra Marques da Silva, Alexandre Rosa dos Santos
Federal University of Espírito Santo/UFES, PostGraduate Programme in Forest Sciences, Av. Governador Lindemberg, 316, 29550-000 Jerônimo Monteiro, ES, Brazil

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• We use artificial neural networks to es-

timate the growth in DBH and height
of eucalyptus trees.
• Using new techniques in forestry mea-
surement.
• The techniques of artificial intelligence
showed accuracy in growth estimation
in DBH and total height.
• The techniques of artificial intelligence
are appropriate in estimating the
growth of eucalyptus trees.
• The techniques used can be adapted to
other areas and forest crops.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Models of individual trees are composed of sub-models that generally estimate competition, mortality, and
Received 12 September 2017 growth in height and diameter of each tree. They are usually adopted when we want more detailed information
Received in revised form 12 November 2017 to estimate forest multiproduct. In these models, estimates of growth in diameter at 1.30 m above the ground
Accepted 12 November 2017
(DBH) and total height (H) are obtained by regression analysis. Recently, artificial intelligence techniques (AIT)
Available online xxxx
have been used with satisfactory performance in forest measurement. Therefore, the objective of this study
Editor: Elena Paoletti was to evaluate the performance of two AIT, artificial neural networks and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference sys-
tem, to estimate the growth in DBH and H of eucalyptus trees. We used data of continuous forest inventories
Keywords: of eucalyptus, with annual measurements of DBH, H, and the dominant height of trees of 398 plots, plus two qual-
Artificial neural networks itative variables: genetic material and site index. It was observed that the two AIT showed accuracy in growth es-
Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system timation of DBH and H. Therefore, the two techniques discussed can be used for the prognosis of DBH and H in
Forest measurement even-aged eucalyptus stands. The techniques used could also be adapted to other areas and forest species.
Forest inventory © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction most important tools in the generation of this information (Andreassen

Forest planning depends on a large quantity of information, empha-
sizing the prediction and the prognosis of growth and forest yield as the
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: cvgiovanni@gmail.com (G.C. Vieira).
and Tomter, 2003).
Often it is interesting to express the growth and yield of individual
trees to get more details. When this happen, regression models are
used to estimate the growth in diameter at breast height (DBH) and
total height (H), which are components of these models (Andreassen
and Tomter, 2003; Clutter et al., 1983; Davis and Johnson, 1987;
Martins et al., 2014; Soares and Tomé, 2002). In addition to these

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.138
0048-9697/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1474 G.C. Vieira et al. / Science of the Total Environment 619–620 (2018) 1473–1481
variables, the estimation of mortality (Monserud and Sterba, 1999; Yang
et al., 2003; Yao et al., 2001) and the use of competition indexes (Bella,
1971; Castro et al., 2013; Contreras et al., 2011; Martins et al., 2014;
Pukkala and Kolström, 1987) are modeling elements of this kind of
model. As examples of using regression models to express the growth
and yield of individual trees, we can cite the works of Adame et al.
(2008), Crecente-Campo et al. (2012), Lynch and Murphy (1995),
Mabvurira and Miina (2002), Martins et al. (2014), Da Silva et al.
(2002), Tennent (1982), Vospernik et al. (2010).
In search of more efficient methods of estimating growth prognosis
and forest yield, the use of artificial intelligence techniques (AIT) has
been highlighted. Among all AIT, artificial neural networks (ANN) are
an alternative to traditional methods of modeling individual trees,
i.e., the statistical regression models (Guan and Gertner, 1991). The
ANNs have greater generalizability, less susceptibility to noise and out-
liers, and the ability to model nonlinear relations unknown to the mod-
eler, among other features (Haykin, 2009) compared to the regression
models. These characteristics are important in modeling the growth
and yield of forest stands.
As examples of studies using ANNs in forest measurement, we can
mention the studies of: Aertsen et al. (2010) used ANNs for prediction
of site index in Mediterranean mountain forests; Diamantopoulou
et al. (2015) used ANNs for estimation of Weibull function parameters
for modeling tree diameter distribution; Diamantopoulou (2005) used
ANNs as an alternative tool in pine bark volume estimation;
Diamantopoulou and Özçelik (2012) used the generalized regression
neural network technique has been applied for tree height prediction;
Hasenauer et al. (2001) used ANNs of estimating tree mortality of
Norway spruce stands; Ioannou et al. (2009) used ANNs to predict the
prices of forest energy resources; Ioannou et al. (2011) used ANNs for
predicting the possibility of ring shake appearance on standing chestnut
trees (Castanea sativa mill.); Leite et al. (2011) used ANNs of estimation
of inside-bark diameter and heartwood diameter of Tectona grandis
Linn; Moisen and Frescino (2002) used ANNs for predicting forest char-
acteristics; Özçelik et al. (2010); used ANNs of estimation breast height
diameter and volume from stump diameter for three economically im-
portant species in Turkey; Özçelik et al. (2013) used nonlinear regres-
sion and artificial neural network models estimating crimean juniper
tree height; Santi et al. (2017) used multifrequency SAR images and in-
version algorithm based on ANNs for estimating forest biomass in Med-
iterranean áreas; Soares et al. (2011) used ANNs of estimation Recursive
diameter prediction and volume calculation of eucalyptus trees; Vahedi
(2016) used ANNs in comparison with modeling allometric equations
for predicting above-ground biomass in the Hyrcanian mixed-beech
forests of Iran; Vahedi (2017) used ANNs and traditional models for
monitoring soil carbon pool in the Hyrcanian coastal plain forest of Iran.
Porras (2007) evaluated the growth in diameter and height of Pinus
cooperi in Mexico; Castro et al. (2013), Leite et al. (2011), Da Silva et al.
(2009) analyzed the growth in diameter and height for Eucalyptus spp.
in Brazil.
The application of AIT in modeling of forest growth and yield is
mostly restricted to the use of ANN. The use of other techniques such
as fuzzy logic and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is
still incipient. These techniques have the potential to improve estima-
tion of growth and yield forest, as presented by satisfactory results in
other areas of knowledge (Aish et al., 2015; Dongale et al., 2015;
Maier and Dandy, 2000; Mashaly et al., 2015; Sarigul et al., 2003;
Zarifneshat et al., 2012).
Fuzzy logic is a generalization of classical logic, which enables inter-
mediate values between false and true, being suitable to solve problems
that do not have well-defined borders, that is, when the transition from
one class to another is smooth and not abrupt (Silvert, 2000; Tanaka,
1997; Zadeh, 1965). In the agricultural arena, fuzzy logic is used for
multi-criteria analysis of image, image classification, vegetation map-
ping, assessment of soil suitability, and planning forest harvesting
(Ahamed et al., 2000; Boyland et al., 2006; Fisher, 2010; Jiang and
Eastiman, 2000; Joss et al., 2008; Malczewski, 2002; Oldeland et al.,
2010; Phillips et al., 2011; Triepke et al., 2008).
The ANFIS consists of a fuzzy inference system (FIS) with a distribut-
ed parallel structure, such that the learning algorithms of neural net-
works are used to adjust the parameters of the FIS. Besides the
advantages of fuzzy systems, the ANFIS has the advantage of using the
learning ANN (Jang, 1993).
In growth and yield diameter at 1.30 m (DBH) and total height (H)
models in level of individual trees, generally, the assumption of error in-
dependence is not met because the same tree is measured at different
ages. The AIT does not guarantee some of the assumptions of regression
models, such as normality and independence of errors. Another advan-
tage of using AIT is the possibility to work with qualitative variables,
such as yield class and genetic material. Considering the potential of
AIT to be used in forest mensuration, this paper proposes the application
of ANNs and ANFIS to predict growth in DBH and H of eucalyptus trees.
2. Methodology
The methodological steps (Fig. 1) required to perform the prognosis
of growth in DBH and H for eucalyptus plantations using artificial intel-
ligence techniques were:
1. Database generation;
2. Input variables of the proposed methods;
3. Site classification;
4. Methods for prognosis;
5. Evaluation of methods.
2.1. Step 1.1: description of the area and of the database
The data used in this study were obtained from eucalyptus planta-
tions (Eucalyptus grandis x Eucalytus urophylla) in the county of
Virginópolis, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The geographical coordinates
of the study area are 18°49′50″ S latitude and 42°41′46″ W longitude.
The climate classification of the region is Cwa, according to Köppen
(Alvares et al., 2013).
Were used data of continuous forest inventory from 28 eucalyptus
clones. In those inventory were annually measured the variables DBH,
H, and the dominant height according to the concept of Assmann
(1970), for 398 plots ranging from 200 m2 to 350 m2, totaling 18,432
trees.
2.2. Step 1.2: partitioning of the database
The database was divided as follows: 85% of the plots were allocated
for the fit of the regression models, training of ANN and ANFIS and 15%
of the plots were used to test the accuracy of the three techniques. The
data used in the training in the techniques of AI were classified into two
sets: one with 70% used for training and one with 15% for validation. Da-
tabase partitioning in this proportion performs well for large datasets
like ours, with small deviations, being common in the literature as in
the works of Alshahrani et al. (2017), Gramatikov (2017), Ondieki
et al. (2017) and Ridolfi et al. (2014). The validation consists in the divi-
sion of the database in a group for training and one for validation. The
training is interrupts after each iteration to perform the validation,
while the validation group error is less than the previous iteration
error, the algorithm continues, and when the error increase, the training
is complete.
2.3. Step 2. Input variables of the regression models and artificial intelli-
gence techniques
The variables used in this study were DBH, H, dominant height, ge-
netic material, basal area, number of trees per hectare, and the compe-
tition index independent of the distance. The average values of stand
 G.C. Vieira et al. / Science of the Total Environment 619–620 (2018) 1473–1481 1475

Fig. 1. Methodological steps necessary to realize prognosis of the growth of diameter at 1.30 m above the ground (DBH) and total height (H) using artificial intelligence techniques.

variables of the three sites are shown in Table 1 of supplementary 2.5. Step 4.1. Prognoses of growth for the DBH and H using regression
material. models

2.4. Step 3. Classification of the production capacity To estimate the growth in the DBH and H we adjusted three tradi-
tional regression models at the level of individual trees found in the lit-
The classification of the productive capacity was modeled according erature (Table 1).
to Schumacher and Hall (1933), adjusted to the stands of this study
(Eq. 1). 2.6. Step 4.2. Prognoses of the growth of DBH and H using artificial neural
networks

  
1
Log Hd ¼ 3:74397−26:921316 ð1Þ The model developed to represent the artificial neuron (Eq. 3 and
Age
Fig. 1 of supplementary material) comprises m synapses as the input,
which represents the dendrites of the natural neuron, wherein respec-
where ðHdÞ is dominant height (m), Age (months) and Log is loga- tive weights (Wkj) are assigned to each one of the Xj inputs to simulate
rithm neperian. synapses (Haykin, 2009). Thereafter, a summation (Σ) is used to obtain
The adjusted model presented all significant parameters (p b 0.01) the sum of the products of the inputs by respective weights, including a
using the Student's t-test, determination coefficient of 79.55%, and bias (bk) applied externally to increase or decrease net entry of the acti-
root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.57 m. We used the method of the vation function (Haykin, 2009). The activation function f(x) restricts the
guide curve to classify the sites (Eq. 2). neuron output amplitude (Y) (Haykin, 2009).


     0 1
1 1 X
m
S ¼ exp Log Hd −26:921316 − ð2Þ
Agei Age Y ¼ f@ W k; j  X j þ bk A ð3Þ
j¼1

where S is site index (m) and Agei is Age index (months).

The Age index used was 72 months. The site classes were: 22 m (low For training, 100 networks were adjusted for each architecture using
productivity), 30 m (average productivity), and 38 m (high MultiLayer Perceptron – MLP with a hidden layer. We evaluated net-
productivity). work architectures ranging from 3 to 30 neurons and activation

Table 1
Regression models for estimating the growth in diameter at 1.30 m (DBH) and total height (H) of individual trees of eucalyptus.

Model Author Equation

1 Pienaar and Shiver (1981) Y2 = Y1(−β0(Ageβ1 1 )) + ε

2 Schumacher adapted the LogðY 2 Þ ¼ LogðY 1 Þ þ β1 ðAge
1
− Age
1
Þ þ β2 BAI þ ε
2 1
Campos and Leite (2013)
3 Adapted by Martins et al. (2014) the Bella (1971), Monserud and Sterba (1999), Mabvurira and Miina (2002) Y 2 ¼ Y 1 þ ðβ0 þ β1 ðAge
1
− Age
1
Þ þ β2 BAI þ β3 SÞ þ ε
2 1

Wherein: Y2 = diameter (cm) or height (m) in future Age; Y1 = diameter (cm) or height (m) in current Age; Age2 = future Age (months); Age1 = current Age (months); BAI = basal area
index; β0, β1, β2, β3 = model coefficients; e ε = random error.
1476 G.C. Vieira et al. / Science of the Total Environment 619–620 (2018) 1473–1481

Table 2 Table 4
Input variables used in artificial neural networks – ANN. Statistics used to evaluate the regression models, artificial neural networks – ANN and
adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system –ANFIS to estimate the growth in diameter at
ANN Activation functions Inputs Outputs 1.30 height – DBH (cm) and total height – H.
DBH
R2 BEM MAE RMSE
ANN1 Log-sigmoid DBH1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S, Gm DBH2
ANN2 Hyperbolic tangent sigmoid DBH1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S, Gm DBH2 DBH (cm)
ANN3 Log-sigmoid DBH1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S DBH2
Regression model 1 0.9668 0.0962 0.4745 0.6553
ANN4 Hyperbolic tangent sigmoid DBH1, Age 1, Age2, DICI, S DBH2
Regression model 2 0.9646 0.2169 0.4888 0.6768
H Regression model 3 0.8846 1.0198 1.0554 1.2223
ANN1 Log-sigmoid H1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S, Gm H2 ANN 1 0.9870 −0.0227 0.4155 0.5785
ANN2 Hyperbolic tangent sigmoid H1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S, Gm H2 ANN 2 0.9871 −0.0209 0.4177 0.5789
ANN3 Log-sigmoid H1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S H2 ANN 3 0.9883 −0.0177 0.4031 0.5496
ANN4 Hyperbolic tangent sigmoid H1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S H2 ANN 4 0.9883 −0.0294 0.4069 0.5535
ANFIS 1 0.9872 −0.0255 0.4115 0.5756
Wherein: Age1: current Age (months); I2: future Age (months); DBH1: current diameter at ANFIS 2 0.9867 −0.0360 0.4218 0.5880
1.30 height (cm), DBH2: future diameter at 1.30 height (cm); H1: total current height (m); ANFIS 3 0.9873 −0.0430 0.4222 0.5742
H2: total future height (m); S: class Site; DICI ¼ DBHi  DBH−2: distance-independent com- H (m)
petition index; Gm: genetic material. Regression model 1 0.8857 0.3355 1.2764 1.6638
Regression model 2 0.8679 0.8503 1.3866 1.7888
Regression model 3 0.4835 3.2066 3.2066 3.5369
functions log-sigmoid (Eq. 4) and hyperbolic tangent sigmoid (Eq. 5) in ANN 1 0.9572 −0.0445 1.0899 1.4256
ANN 2 0.9587 −0.1058 1.0700 1.4078
the hidden layer. In the output layer was used the linear function (Eq. 6). ANN 3 0.9573 −0.0967 1.0747 1.4315
ANN 4 0.9572 −0.0276 1.0819 1.4278
1 ANFIS 1 0.9447 0.0718 1.2676 1.8988
f ðxÞ ¼ ð4Þ
1 þ e−x ANFIS 2 0.9502 −0.1142 1.1732 1.5431
ANFIS 3 0.9498 −0.1432 1.1731 1.5523
2 Wherein: Coefficient of Determination (R2), Mean Bias Error (BEM), a Mean Absolute
f ðxÞ ¼ −1 ð5Þ
1 þ e−2x Error (MAE) e a Root mean square error (RMSE).

f ðxÞ ¼ x ð6Þ

We adopted the supervised training method, using the Levenberg- where Xi is the value to be standardized, Xminimum is the lowest value
Marquardt algorithm (Hagan and Menhaj, 1996). This method com- of the data set and Xmaximum is the highest value of the data set.
bines the best features of the gradient descent method and Gauss- This standardization was used to prevent variables of greater magni-
Newton method, which provides greater convergence speed compared tude from having a greater influence on the result (Haykin, 2009). The
to the error backpropagation algorithm (Hagan and Menhaj, 1996). description of the ANN with its activation functions and input and out-
A stopping criterion was employed after 1000 epochs for each com- put variables is presented in Table 2.
bination of configurations or an early-stopping rule was applied based
on validation. In the early-stopping rule, it is possible to identify over- 2.7. Step 4.3 Prognoses of the growth of DBH and H using ANFIS
adjustment through validation, where one sample is used for network
training and another is used for validation after each iteration We used the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) that is
(Haykin, 2009). As long as the Mean squared error (MSE) of the valida- based on a set of inputs and desired outputs; the tool prepares a fuzzy
tion sample is less than the MSE of the previous iterations, the training inference model. We used three membership functions for variables
of the network is continued, otherwise the training must be terminated, DBH1 and H1; two for each Age1, Age2, and DICI; and a membership func-
since after that point the network loses its generalization capacity (Fig. 2 tion for each site class and clone. The input membership functions were
of supplementary material). The input and output variables were stan- all Gaussian, and the output function was linear.
dardized between [0, 1] for the log-sigmoid activation function and The algorithms used were the grid partition and subtractive cluster-
[−1, 1] for the hyperbolic tangent sigmoid (Eq. 7). ing. The grid algorithm is limited to a few partition entries, because the
  number of rules increases exponentially with an increasing number of
X i −X minimum entries, causing difficulty in processing (Wei et al., 2007). The subtrac-
X norm ¼ ð7Þ
X maximum −X minimum tive clustering proposed by Chiu (1994) groups similar variables to facil-
itate processing and is suitable for problems with more variables and/or
membership functions (Wei et al., 2007).
Table 3
We also used the hybrid training algorithm, compound of
Input variables used in the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system – ANFIS. backpropagation method, and the least squares method. The
backpropagation method is related to the parameter estimates of the
ANFIS Method Input Output
input membership functions, while the method of least squares esti-
DBH mates the output the parameters of the membership functions. As a
1 Subtractive clustering DBH1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S, Gm DBH2
stopping criterion, we used the error to zero and/or the maximum set
2 Subtractive clustering DBH1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S DBH2
3 Grid partition DBH1, Age1, Age2, DICI DBH2 number of training epochs. The number of epochs for training ranged
from 1 to 50, using the number of times that had the lowest error for
H
the test data. The use of two training algorithms is related to the number
1 Subtractive clustering H1, Age1, Age2, DICI H2
2 Subtractive clustering H1, Age1, Age2, DICI, S H2 of system inputs. The starters used are shown in Table 3.
3 Grid partition H1, Age1, Age2, DICI H2

Wherein: Age1: current Age (months); I2: future Age (months); DBH1: current diameter at 2.8. Step 5. Evaluation of the techniques used
1.30 height (cm), DBH2: future diameter at 1.30 height (cm); H1: total current height (m);
H2: total future height (m); S: class site; DICI ¼ DBH i  DBH −2: distance-independent com- To evaluate the accuracy of the techniques were analyzed: the
petition index; Gm: genetic material. graphs of variables observed versus estimated variables, the coefficient
 G.C. Vieira et al. / Science of the Total Environment 619–620 (2018) 1473–1481 1477

Fig. 2. Graphical Analysis the estimated diameter at 1.30 height – DBH (cm) vs. the observed diameter at 1.30 height – DBH (cm) and the estimated total height – H vs. the observed total
height – H of regression models 1, 2 and 3.

of determination – R2 (Eq. 8), Mean Bias Error – MBE (Eq. 9), the Mean 3. Results
Absolute Error – MAE (Eq. 10) and the Root Mean Square Error – RMSE
(Eq. 11). 3.1. Regression models for the estimation of DBH and H

Based on the results shown in Table 1 of supplementary material, ex-

2
^i Þ
Σðyi −y ^ of the DBH in Model 3, all estimated
R2 ¼ 1− ð8Þ cept for the estimated parameter β 3
Σðyi −yi Þ2 parameters were statistically significant (p b 0.05).
Analyzing statistical indicators (R2, MBE, MAE, and RMSE) for DBH
the Model 1 and Model 2 showed highest accuracy. For the H models,
wherein: yi: observed value of the ith variable; ŷi: estimated value of the
Model 1 showed highest accuracy, followed by Model 2 (Table 4).
ith variable; ȳ: mean of the observed values of the variable.
Regarding the observed values versus estimated values graph by re-
gression models (Fig. 2), we note that Model 1 and 2 showed a smaller
Pn
i¼1 ðyi −yi Þ
^ dispersion of data with respect to the 1:1 trend line. An underestimation
MBE ¼ ð9Þ trend was also observed in Model 3 for estimating DBH and H. Therefore,
n
Model 1 and 2 is the most appropriate to estimate the DBH and H be-
cause of its higher accuracy, and it does not present trends in the esti-
wherein: yi: observed value of the ith variable; ŷi: estimated value of the mates for any size class.
ith variable; n: sample size.

Pn 3.2. Artificial neural networks to estimate the DBH and H of eucalyptus trees
i¼ j jyi −yi j
^
MAE ¼ ð10Þ
n Based on the simulations, the networks settings were selected
(number of neurons in the hidden layer) which had lower RMSE for
wherein: yi: observed value of the ith variable; ŷi: estimated value of the the prognosis of DBH and H. In the configuration for the prognosis of
ith variable; n: sample size. DBH (Fig. 3a), the neuron number of input layer were 35 and the neu-
rons in the hidden layer that had the lowest RMSE was 8 for the network
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
sP 1; the neuron number of input layer were 35 and the neurons in the hid-
n
i¼ j ðyi −yi Þ
^ den layer that had the lowest RMSE was 23 to the network 2; the neuron
RMSE ¼ ð11Þ number of input layer were 7 and the neurons in the hidden layer that
n
had the lowest RMSE was 6 for the network 3; and the neuron number
of input layer were 7 and the neurons in the hidden layer that had the
wherein: yi: observed value of the ith variable; ŷi: estimated value of the lowest RMSE was 5 into the network 4. To estimate the H, the network
ith variable; n: sample size. configuration (Fig. 3b), which had the lowest RMSE was the network 1
For each ANN configuration and ANFIS, we selected those that had with 35 neurons in the input layer and 8 neurons in the hidden layer.
the lowest RMSE values. For network 2, were 35 neurons in the input layer and 4 neurons in
1478 G.C. Vieira et al. / Science of the Total Environment 619–620 (2018) 1473–1481

Fig. 3. Root mean square error (RMSE, cm) of artificial neural networks – ANN with different numbers of hidden layer neurons (K) to estimate the diameter at 1.30 height – DBH (cm) and
total height – H, wherein the red dots highlight the number of neurons that present lower RMSE for the configurations of artificial neural networks – ANN. (For interpretation of the
references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 4. Graphic Analysis the estimated diameter at 1.30 height – DBH (cm) vs. the observed diameter at 1.30 height – DBH (cm) and the estimated total height – H vs. the observed total
height – H of configurations of artificial neural networks – ANN 1, 2, 3 and 4.
 G.C. Vieira et al. / Science of the Total Environment 619–620 (2018) 1473–1481
the hidden layer. For networks 3 and 4 were 7 neurons in the input layer
and 4 neurons in the hidden layer.
Analyzing the statistics to assess the accuracy of ANNs (Table 4), it is
noted that the analyzed indicators (R2, MBE, MAE and RMSE) to esti-
mate the DBH did not show great variation among the configurations
of neural networks of greater accuracy. Among the settings that had
the greatest accuracy was Network 3, followed by Network 4. When an-
alyzing the results for overall H, we note similar results to the DBH, ex-
cept for the MBE statistics. The network with greater accuracy for H was
Network 2.
Based on graphical analysis of estimated DBH vs. observed DBH (Fig.
4a), is can be noted that Network 4 has the best fit, showing greater dis-
persion of DBH below 15 cm. For the prognosis of H (Fig. 4b), it is noted
that Networks 2 and 4 had better distribution of residuals. In general, it
is observed that the data are widely dispersed in relation onto the 1:1
trend line. Greater dispersion of data for the trees with H b 20 m was ob-
served. Therefore, the most appropriate network settings are Networks
3 and 4 for estimating the DBH and Networks 2 and 4 for estimating H
because of its higher accuracy.
3.3. Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system to estimate the DHB and H of
eucalyptus trees
Comparing the three ANFIS in terms of accuracy, using as a basis the
statistical indicators, it is noted that for DBH, the compared systems
showed similar accuracy, as happened to ANNs. Thus, considering the
statistics analyzed, one can use any of the three settings to estimate
DBH eucalyptus trees. When analyzing the results for H, note that the
ANFIS 2 was the one with greater accuracy.
Analyzing the estimated DBH vs. observed DBH graph for the ANFIS
(Fig. 5a), it is observed that the three systems showed greater disper-
sion of data for trees with DBH b15 cm. Considering the graphical anal-
ysis of observed height vs. estimated height to ANFIS (Fig. 5b), it is noted
Fig. 5. Graphic Analysis the estimated DBH vs. observed DBH and estimated H vs. the observed H, of configurations of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system – ANFIS 1, 2 and 3.
1479
that the data are more dispersed in trendline 1:1 compared to the re-
sults of ANNs. We can see greater dispersion for the trees smaller
23 m of H. In general, the ANFIS 1 showed the worst performance,
with greater dispersion of observed values versus estimated for the
DBH and H of the trees.
4. Discussion
Since the growth of individual trees is a function of time (Age of the
population) having a nonlinear relationship, the use of this type of AIT
modeling is feasible. This fact testifies to the adequacy of these tech-
niques for modeling this kind of relationship, as described by several re-
searchers (Da Silva et al., 2009; Özçelik et al., 2010; Leite et al., 2011,
Soares et al., 2011; Diamantopoulou and Özçelik, 2012; Castro et al.,
2013).
Considering the analyzed statistics (Table 4) and the graphs (Figs. 2,
4 and 5), it is clear that it is feasible the use ANNs and ANFIS to estimate
growth of individual eucalyptus trees, becauseboth showed better accu-
racy in projecting DBH and H of eucalyptus trees compared to regression
models. In the work of Martins et al. (2014), which tested regression
models for projecting DBH and H of eucalyptus hybrids, determination
coefficient values between 0.9586 and 0.9874 for DBH and 0.9428 to
0.9886 for the H were found.
When comparing the graphs of observed data vs. estimated data for
the evaluated techniques (Figs. 2, 4 and 5), it is observed that the AIT
showed less dispersion of data with respect to the 1:1 trend line and
lesser trends of overestimation or underestimation of the DBH and H
of trees studied.
Assessing ANNs from the point of view of activation function, we
note that there were no differences in accuracy due to activation func-
tions (Table 4). The activation function is related to the relationships
contained in data, convergence speed of the algorithms, and network
complexity (Duch and Jankowski, 1999).
1480 G.C. Vieira et al. / Science of the Total Environment 619–620 (2018) 1473–1481
Little variation of the RMSE was observed (Fig. 3) with the number of
network neurons. The network configuration is related to the complex-
ity of the problem, and for more complex problems more neurons are
needed (Haykin, 2009). Accordingly, the use of less complex networks,
i.e., with fewer neurons, has the advantage of higher processing speed
without significant loss of accuracy.
In general, there was not much accuracy variation with respect to
network configurations for DBH and H. The addition of genetic material
as a categorical variable did not considerably increase the accuracy of
RNAs in estimates of DBH and H. However, this is a variable that must
always be evaluated because growth is influenced by the type of genetic
material. Regarding the ANFIS, it was observed that there was no signif-
icant difference in accuracy with respect to input space separation
methods. The grid partition method restricts the number of inputs, be-
cause the number of relevant rules increases exponentially with an in-
creasing number of entries, which increases the processing time and
may impair the numerical solution of the problem (Wei et al., 2007).
With the inclusion of local class variables and genetic material, it was
necessary to use the subtractive cluster method. However, similar to
what happened with the ANNs, an increase in the accuracy with the
use of genetic material as categorical variable was not observed; the
same was true for site class.
Thus, the AIT analyzed in this work can be used to project the DBH
and H of eucalyptus trees, demonstrating that they are suitable alterna-
tives to classical regression methods.
5. Conclusions
The ANNs and the ANFIS had higher accuracy than regression
models for projecting DBH and total H of eucalyptus trees. Thus, it is rea-
sonable to say that these techniques can be used for the prognosis of
growth of DBH and H for individual trees. Also, the site class variables
and the genetic material did not provide more accuracy when inset as
input variables to the artificial intelligence techniques. Therefore, the
two techniques discussed can be used for prognosis of growth of DBH
and H in even-aged eucalyptus stands. The methodology can be adapted
for use of artificial intelligence techniques in other forest crops.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to extend their thanks to the Research and
Innovation Support Foundation of the Espírito Santo (FAPES) for the
funding through the scholarship (public notice number 21/2012 and
124/2014), the Graduate Program in Forest Science of the Federal
University of Espírito Santo.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.11.138.
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