MULTILEVEL NONLINEAR MIXED-EFFECTS MODEL AND MACHINE LEARNING FOR PREDICTING THE VOLUME OF Eucalyptus SPP. TREES

ABSTRACT Volumetric equations is one of the main tools for quantifying forest stand production, and is the basis for sustainable management of forest plantations. This study aimed to assess the quality of the volumetric estimation of Eucalyptus spp. trees using a mixed-effects model, artificial neural network (ANN) and support-vector machine (SVM). The database was derived from a forest stand located in the municipalities of Bom Jardim de Minas, Lima Duarte and Arantina in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The volume of 818 trees was accurately estimated using Smalian’s Formula. The Schumacher and...