Coconut Inventory Activities in the Pacific ?

Wolf Forstreuter

Coconut Resource Known ?• “Kiribati has 3,827,913 coconut

palms”• Believable?

LINE GROUPAtoll Name NoPlots DEC SDC SCC TotalCHRISTMAS ISLAND 20 153,863 164,719 133,722 452,304FANNING ISLAND 20 259,904 8,856 9,794 278,554WASHINGTON ISLAND 20 150,751 798 196 151,745FLINT 20 50,912 1,218 1,079 53,209CAROLINE 20 13,038 3,978 2,747 19,763MALDEN NIL No PalmsSTARBUCK NIL No PalmsVOSTOK NIL No PalmsSUM         955,575

Palm Resource Mappingwith VHR Satellite Images

A. Separation of coconut palm from other vegetation possible

B. Density stratification is possibleC. Counting is possible in scattered and

semi dense stands with 95% accuracy (dense underestimation)

D. Field work necessary but reduced to statistical minimum

Display VHR Image Data

Texture of pan-sharpened VHR image data allows to separate palm and natural forest

Density Classes

A. Scattered 25 – 50 palms / hectareB. Semi dense 50 – 150 palms /

hectareC. Dense > 150 palms / hectare

Delineation of Palm Density50 x 50 m grid helps interpretation

Selection of Sample Plots for Coconut Palm Counting

1. Select are only plots that are fully covered by one stratum

2. Randomly selection of about 20 % plots

3. Counting palms / plot

Counting Palms in Plots• Placing a dot on top of every visible palm

• Digital overlay with grid and counting in MapInfo (GIS software) dots per grid cell

• Transfer to Access

Counting in MapInfo

MapInfo automatically counts the number of palms within the plots using SQL select

SQL Result

Analysis in Access• Sum• Min• Max• Mean• No Plots• Area plots• Area Stratum• (Pot. No. Plots)

Mapping at SPC and PICSPC-SOPAC Fiji

Agriculture Kiribati

Environment Kiribati

Complete Kiribati and Part of Tuvalu Mapped

Field Sample Plots Needed

• Counting palms / hectare in dense stands• Counting amount of hybrids• Estimation coconut production • Recording extent of diseases • Estimation of palm age • Estimation of timber volume (diametre

and height)

50 – 100% under estimation ofpalms / hectare in dense stands

Field Plots• 40 x 40 m in scattered and semi

dense stands• Selection of image sample plots• GPS assistance for location

identification in the field

Age / Height Measurement

• Length of 11 leave scares in cm• Height of palm

– Distance to bottom– Angle to bottom– Angle to top

Fertility• Number of coconuts / bunch• Three oldest bunches counted• Average calculated

Diseases

Top: Stick insectRight: Rhinoceros beetle

Timber Volume• DBH

• Height

• Form factor

• Timber factor

Calculation is CodedPalm Measurements Input

PlotNo

PalmN

o

AngleDown

AngleUp

DistanceDown

DBH

Length11Leav

e

NoCoconutsB1

NoCoconutsB2

NoCoconutsB3

Hybrid CoconutBeetle

StickInsect

1 1 -1 6.6 18 29 51 4 3 4 FALSE TRUE FALSE1 2 -1 6.2 18 31 42 7 8 10 FALSE FALSE FALSE1 3 -1 7.2 17 25 52 2 1 2 FALSE FALSE FALSE1 4 -0 9.2 22 35 82 6 4 2 FALSE FALSE FALSE1 5 -1 8.4 22 35 91 5 4 3 FALSE FALSE TRUE1 6 -0 12 19 40 117 4 4 3 FALSE TRUE TRUE1 7 -0 9 19 32 73 4 6 4 FALSE FALSE TRUE1 8 -1 10 15 30 87 5 6 3 FALSE FALSE TRUE1 9 -1 7.8 22 35 75 4 6 9 FALSE FALSE TRUE1 10 -1 7.8 20 31 75 5 5 4 FALSE TRUE TRUE1 11 -1 8.6 18 34 74 5 8 6 FALSE TRUE TRUE1 12 -1 8 16 34 80 6 6 6 FALSE TRUE FALSE1 13 -1 7.8 17 35 70 4 4 4 FALSE FALSE TRUE

Value per Palm

Palm_ID DBH Height Age Fertility RB_Attack SI_Attack Hybrid Volume

0001_001 29.4 9.09 28 3.67 TRUE FALSE FALSE 0.370001_002 30.7 7.92 29 8.33 FALSE FALSE FALSE 0.350001_003 25 9.35 28 1.67 FALSE FALSE FALSE 0.280001_004 34.8 14.83 28 4 FALSE FALSE FALSE 0.850001_005 34.5 13.64 25 4 FALSE TRUE FALSE 0.760001_006 40 17.46 25 3.67 TRUE TRUE FALSE 1.320001_007 31.5 12.46 27 4.67 FALSE TRUE FALSE 0.580001_008 30.2 12.64 25 4.67 FALSE TRUE FALSE 0.540001_009 34.8 12.4 27 6.33 FALSE TRUE FALSE 0.710001_010 31.1 12.16 26 4.67 TRUE TRUE FALSE 0.550001_011 33.6 11.47 25 6.33 TRUE TRUE FALSE 0.610001_012 34 9.97 22 6 TRUE FALSE FALSE 0.540001_013 34.6 10.36 25 4 FALSE TRUE FALSE 0.58

Harvesting Coconuts

It is uneconomic to search for a coconut !

It is uneconomic to carry more than 300m !

Distance to Road• Create buffer zones around tracks and roads• Overlay over stratified area• Recalculate productive area

Thanks

• Remote sensing, GIS and GPS technology provide new avenues for coconut resource inventories

• Utilising these technologies enables quantitative estimation of available resource