Abstract
Large-scale characterization of tropical rainforest is a challenge for their conservation and management. Very high spatial resolution images as provided by the Pléiades satellites offer new opportunities to study the structural organization of heterogeneous rainforests with limited accessibility. In this study, we have evaluated the potential of Pléiades images to map structural parameters of New Caledonian rainforests by analyzing texture of forest canopies. We have applied the Fourier transform textural ordination (FOTO) method to very high spatial resolution images to compute texture indices of canopy grain (i.e. a combination of size distribution and spatial pattern of tree crowns). The results have showed that this method was promising to isolate the rainforest from other types of vegetation, and to highlight their structural diversity on a large scale. Finally, this case study showed that the use of Pléiades images is promising to predict the structure of rainforests.