Prediction of the Carbon Content of Six Tree Species from Visible-Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

This study aimed to measure the carbon content of tree species rapidly and accurately using visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy coupled with chemometric methods. Currently, the carbon content of trees used for calculating the carbon storage of forest trees in the study of carbon sequestration is obtained by two methods. One involves measuring carbon content in the laboratory (K₂CrO₇-H₂SO₄ oxidation method or elemental analyzer), and another involves directly using the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) default carbon content of 0.45 or 0.5. The former method is destructive, time-consuming, and expensive, while the latter is subjective. However, Vis-NIR detection technology can avoid these shortcomings and rapidly determine carbon content. In this study, 96 increment core samples were collected from six tree species in the Heilongjiang province of China for analysis. The spectral data were preprocessed using seven methods, including extended multiplicative scatter correction (EMSC), first derivative (1D), second derivative (2D), baseline correction, de-trend, orthogonal signal correction (OSC), and normalization to eliminate baseline drifting and noise, as well as to enhance the model quality. Linear models were established from the spectra using partial least squares regression (PLS). At the same time, we also compared the effects of full-spectrum and reduced spectrum on the model’s performance. The results showed that the spectral data processed by 1D with the full spectrum could obtain a better prediction model. The 1D method yielded the highest R²c of 0.92, an RMSEC (root-mean-square error of calibration) of 0.0056, an R²p of 0.99, an RMSEP (root-mean-square error of prediction) of 0.0020, and the highest RPD (residual prediction deviation) value of 8.9. The results demonstrate the feasibility of Vis-NIR spectroscopy coupled with chemometric methods in determining the carbon content of tree species as a simple, rapid, and non-destructive method.