{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,13]],"date-time":"2026-05-13T21:07:04Z","timestamp":1778706424600,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":76,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,7,30]],"date-time":"2016-07-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1469836800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Key Technologies Research and Development Program of China","award":["2013BAC03B02"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2013BAC03B02"]}]},{"name":"Key Technologies Research and Development Program of China","award":["2012BAC19B04"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2012BAC19B04"]}]},{"name":"The earmarked fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System","award":["CARS-35"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CARS-35"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["41501416"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["41501416"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Leaf area index (LAI) is a key parameter used to describe vegetation structures and is widely used in ecosystem biophysical process and vegetation productivity models. Many algorithms have been developed for the estimation of LAI based on remote sensing images. Our goal was to produce accurate and timely predictions of grassland LAI for the meadow steppes of northern China. Here, we compare the predictive power of regression approaches and hybrid geostatistical methods using Chinese Huanjing (HJ) satellite charge coupled device (CCD) data. The regression methods evaluated include partial least squares regression (PLSR), artificial neural networks (ANNs) and random forests (RFs). The two hybrid geostatistical methods were regression kriging (RK) and random forests residuals kriging (RFRK). The predictions were validated for different grassland types and different growing stages, and their performances were also examined by adding several groups of vegetation indices (VIs). The two hybrid geostatistical models (RK and RFRK) yielded the most accurate predictions (root mean squared error (RMSE) = 0.21 m2\/m2 and 0.23 m2\/m2 for RK and RFRK, respectively), followed by the RF model (RMSE = 0.27 m2\/m2), which was the most accurate among the regression models. These three models also exhibited the best temporal performance across the duration of the growing season. The PLSR and ANN models were less accurate (RMSE = 0.33 m2\/m2 and 0.35 m2\/m2 for ANN and PLSR, respectively), and the PLSR model performed the worst (exhibiting varied temporal performance and unreliable prediction accuracy that was susceptible to ground conditions). By adding VIs to the predictor variables, the predictions of the PLSR and ANN models were obviously improved (RMSE improved from 0.35 m2\/m2 to 0.28 m2\/m2 for PLSR and from 0.33 m2\/m2 to 0.28 m2\/m2 for ANN); the RF and RFRK models did not generate more accurate predictions and the performance of the RK model declined (RMSE decreased from 0.21 m2\/m2 to 0.32 m2\/m2).<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs8080632","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,3]],"date-time":"2016-08-03T03:47:39Z","timestamp":1470196059000},"page":"632","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":39,"title":["Predicting Grassland Leaf Area Index in the Meadow Steppes of Northern China: A Comparative Study of Regression Approaches and Hybrid Geostatistical Methods"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9882-8986","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhenwang","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5333-3827","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jianghao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0746-0328","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Huan","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Chengquan","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Global Land Cover Facility, Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, 2181 LeFrak Hall, College Park, MD 20742, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fan","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Baorui","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xu","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xiaoping","family":"Xin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yong","family":"Ge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,7,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-3040.1992.tb00992.x","article-title":"Defining leaf area index for non-flat leaves","volume":"15","author":"Chen","year":"1992","journal-title":"Plant Cell Environ."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1090","DOI":"10.2307\/1941378","article-title":"Mapping regional forest evapotranspiration and photosynthesis by coupling satellite data with ecosystem 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