Forests are threatened globally by deforestation. Forest restoration at the landscape scale can reduce these threats. Ground-based and remote sensing inventories are needed to assess restoration success. Fractional canopy cover estimated from forest algorithms can be used to monitor forest loss, growth, and health via remote sensing. Various studies on the fractional cover of forest have been published. However, none has yet conducted a bibliometric analysis. Bibliometrics provide a detailed examination of a topic, pointing academics to new research possibilities. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first bibliometric study screening publications to assess the incidence of studies of the fractional cover of forests in Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. This research analyses WoS and Scopus publications on the fractional cover of forest dating from 1984 to 2021. The current study uses the Bibliometrix R-package for citation metrics and analysis. The first paper on the fractional cover of forest was published in 1984 and annual publication numbers have risen since 2002. USA and China were the most active countries in the study of fractional cover of forests. A total of 955 documents from 69 countries with multiple languages were retrieved. Vegetation, forestry, and remote sensing were the most discussed topics. Findings suggest more studies on the fractional cover of forests algorithms should be conducted in tropical forest from developing countries.

No abstract

Harvested timber and constructed infrastructure over the logging area leave massive damage that contributes to the emission of anthropogenic gases into the atmosphere. Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation are the second largest source of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Even though the emissions vary from region to region, a significant amount of carbon emissions comes mostly from timber harvesting, which is tightly linked to the selective logging intensity. This study intended to utilize a remote sensing approach to quantify carbon emissions from selective logging activities in Ulu Jelai Forest Reserve, Pahang, Malaysia. To quantify the emissions, the relevant variables from the logging’s impact were identified as a predictor in the model development and were listed as stump height, stump diameter, cross-sectional area, timber volume, logging gaps, road, skid trails, and incidental damage resulting from the logging process. The predictive performance of linear regression and machine learning models, namely support vector machine (SVM), random forest, and K-nearest neighbor, were examined to assess the carbon emission from this degraded forest. To test the different methods, a combination of ground inventory plots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and satellite imagery were analyzed, and the performance in terms of root mean square error (RMSE), bias, and coefficient of correlation (R2) were calculated. Among the four models tested, the machine learning model SVM provided the best accuracy with an RMSE of 21.10% and a bias of 0.23% with an adjusted R2 of 0.80. Meanwhile, the linear model performed second with an RMSE of 22.14%, a bias of 0.72%, and an adjusted R2 of 0.75. This study demonstrates the efficacy of remotely sensed data to facilitate the conventional methods of quantifying carbon emissions from selective logging and promoting advanced assessments that are more effective, especially in massive logging areas and various forest conditions. Findings from this research will be useful in assisting the relevant authorities in optimizing logging practices to sustain forest carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation.