Forest tree species mapped with high accuracy using satellite data.
problem Classifying dominant tree species in Swedish forests.
method Extreme gradient boosting model with Bayesian optimization, combining Sentinel-1/2 satellite data and field observations.
result Overall accuracy of 85%, F1 score of 0.82, Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.81.
SLIC-UAV monitors forest recovery using UAVs and machine learning.
problem Challenges in monitoring forest recovery, especially in logged tropical forests.
method Novel pipeline for UAV imagery analysis, combining crown labelling, species classification, and superpixel segmentation.
result SLIC-UAV achieves high accuracy in species mapping, from 79.3% to 90.5%.
Deep learning improves tree species classification accuracy in imbalanced contexts.
problem Inaccurate tree species maps for large areas, especially in imbalanced contexts.
method Used deep learning models (including convolutional and attention-based) on Sentinel-2 multispectral satellite time series data.
result Deep learning models achieve higher accuracy and F1-macro scores compared to Random Forest in imbalanced contexts.
SDSR reconstructs species trees from genetic markers efficiently.
problem Challenges in reconstructing species trees from genetic data.
method Spectral divide-and-conquer approach based on graph theory.
result SDSR achieves up to 10-fold faster runtime with comparable accuracy.
Deep semi-supervised learning identifies tree species from natural images.
problem Identifying tree species in natural settings with limited labeled data.
method Two-fold approach using deep semi-supervised learning.
result Achieves 94.04% top-5 accuracy for leaves and 83.04% for bark.
We consider the problem of estimating the evolutionary history of a set of species (phylogeny or species tree) from several genes. It is known that the evolutionary history of individual genes (gene trees) might be topologically distinct from each other and from the underlying species tree, possibly confounding phyloge…
Ecologists have long suspected that species are more likely to interact if their traits match in a particular way. For example, a pollination interaction may be more likely if the proportions of a bee's tongue fit a plant's flower shape. Empirical estimates of the importance of trait-matching for determining species in…
Understanding how species are distributed across landscapes over time is a fundamental question in biodiversity research. Unfortunately, most species distribution models only target a single species at a time, despite strong ecological evidence that species are not independently distributed. We propose Deep Multi-Speci…
Phytoplankton plays an important role in marine ecosystem. It is defined as a biological factor to assess marine quality. The identification of phytoplankton species has a high potential for monitoring environmental, climate changes and for evaluating water quality. However, phytoplankton species identification is not …
Deep forests enhance expressiveness exponentially with depth, not width or tree size.
problem Understanding the role of depth, width, and tree size in deep forest performance.
method Provided upper and lower bounds on deep forest approximation complexity.
result Depth exponentially enhances deep forest expressiveness.
Alpha-trimming prunes trees in random forests to improve predictive performance.
problem Improving predictive performance of random forests by locally adaptive tree pruning.
method Alpha-trimming is a fast pruning algorithm that prunes trees in a random forest based on signal-to-noise ratio, controlled by a tuning parameter.
result Alpha-trimming often lowers mean squared prediction error compared to fully grown random forests.
Single tree outperforms random forest in testing accuracy.
problem The challenge of improving single decision tree performance.
method Gradient-based entire tree optimization framework, scaled sigmoid approximation, numerical stability algorithm, subtree polish strategy.
result Optimized single tree outperforms classic random forest by 2.03% on average.
Bayesian learning for forests and trees improves graph detection and structure learning.
problem Learning graph structures in non-decomposable graphs.
method Adapted MCMC and SSS algorithms for forests and trees, using the Chow-Liu algorithm and Matrix Tree Theorem.
result SSS with trees or forests outperforms SSS with decomposable graphs in certain cases.
Study uses satellite and lidar data to map forest height and biomass in France.
problem Mapping forest resources and carbon in large areas.
method Machine learning approach using Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, ALOS-2, and GEDI Lidar data.
result High-resolution maps of forest height and biomass produced with good accuracy.
A single slow-growing tree matches Random Forest's performance.
problem Matching Random Forest's performance with a single tree.
method SGT uses a learning rate to tame CART's greedy algorithm, improving on greedy ML algorithms.
result SGT and tree ensembles like Booging, BT, and RF improve performance.
This study argues for pruning trees in random forests to improve performance in low signal-to-noise scenarios.
problem Improving random forest performance in scenarios with low signal-to-noise ratio.
method Using regularization theory, the study re-examines the depth of trees in random forests and provides evidence that shallow trees are advantageous.
result Random forests with shallow trees are advantageous when the signal-to-noise ratio is low.
Study examines how disturbances affect financial returns in Austrian forests.
problem Financial impact of disturbances on timberland returns in Austria.
method Applied probability theory to analyze two management regimes: even-aged and semi-stationary.
result Severe disturbances can lead to a shift from continuous-cover to even-aged forestry, affecting financial sensitivity.
This paper develops a new method to model treatment effects that are heterogeneous across different quantiles.
problem Modeling treatment effects that vary across different quantiles of the outcome distribution.
method The paper combines quantile classification with local polynomial estimation to build a decision tree and forest.
result The proposed QLPRT and QLPRF methods provide a new way to estimate and infer heterogeneous treatment effects.
A new method for decision tree selection in recommendation systems.
problem Feature-based selection of a single tree from an ensemble for dynamic interpretation.
method A multi-armed contextual bandit recommendation framework that trains a system on top of Random Forests to identify the most relevant tree.
result The dynamic method outperforms an independent CART tree and is comparable to Random Forest in predictive performance.
Introduced by Breiman, Random Forests are widely used classification and regression algorithms. While being initially designed as batch algorithms, several variants have been proposed to handle online learning. One particular instance of such forests is the \emph{Mondrian Forest}, whose trees are built using the so-cal…
Optimizes random forest inference by defining step order to maximize accuracy.
problem Limited inference time in resource-constrained systems.
method Designs anytime random forest algorithm on step granularity, proposing optimal step order.
result Backward Squirrel Order performs nearly as well as the optimal step order.
Tree ensembles such as random forests and boosted trees are accurate but difficult to understand, debug and deploy. In this work, we provide the inTrees (interpretable trees) framework that extracts, measures, prunes and selects rules from a tree ensemble, and calculates frequent variable interactions. An rule-based le…
Attention augments forest for tabular data accuracy.
problem Training tabular data models with high accuracy and efficiency.
method Tree Attention Block (TAB) in differentiable forest framework.
result Attention augmented differentiable forest achieves comparable and sometimes higher accuracy than GBDT models.
A new random forest algorithm improves tree construction for optimal performance.
problem Improving the performance of random forests, especially in complex and smooth scenarios.
method Adaptive split-balancing method using permutation-based splitting criterion.
result Achieves minimax optimality under various Lipschitz and Hölder classes.
New methods improve prediction performance and reduce computation time in boosting and random forest models.
problem Improving prediction performance and reducing computation time in boosting and random forest models.
method Random tree depth injection approach for Boosting and Random Forests.
result The new methods can improve prediction performance and reduce computation time by up to 40%.
Enhances random forest performance with exogenous randomness.
problem Improving random forest performance through exogenous randomness.
method Developed non-asymptotic MSE expansions for individual trees and forests, identified two types of randomness, and conducted simulations.
result Exogenous randomness, particularly feature subsampling, reduces both bias and variance of random forests.
Ensembles of randomized decision trees, usually referred to as random forests, are widely used for classification and regression tasks in machine learning and statistics. Random forests achieve competitive predictive performance and are computationally efficient to train and test, making them excellent candidates for r…
Improved Random Forests detect pure interactions better.
problem Random Forests struggle with certain pure interactions.
method Alternative partitioning schemes during tree construction.
result Improved Random Forests enhance fitting ability in scenarios with pure interactions.
We analyze the consistency of decision trees and random forests in regression.
problem Consistency of decision trees and random forests in regression.
method Elementary proofs following classical arguments for smoothing methods.
result Establish weak and almost sure convergence of honest trees and forest averages to the true regression function.
Optimal survival trees ensemble reduces tree count and improves predictive performance.
problem Improving predictive performance in survival analysis.
method Grows a forest of optimal survival trees by ranking and selecting the best trees based on out-of-bag error.
result Reduces the number of trees in the ensemble while improving predictive performance.
The Binary Space Partitioning~(BSP)-Tree process is proposed to produce flexible 2-D partition structures which are originally used as a Bayesian nonparametric prior for relational modelling. It can hardly be applied to other learning tasks such as regression trees because extending the BSP-Tree process to a higher dim…
The paper uses regression trees/random forests to price Bermudan options more efficiently.
problem Pricing Bermudan options with conditional expectation estimation.
method Estimates conditional expectations using regression trees or random forests instead of traditional regression methods.
result Regression trees/random forests provide better results in high dimensions.
This paper improves deep forest models with soft routing and topology learning.
problem Expensive computational costs and lack of interpretability in deep neural networks.
method Soft routing in probabilistic trees and topology learning for joint optimization.
result Empowered deep forests achieve better performance with reduced model complexity.
This paper improves forest pruning to balance accuracy and interpretability.
problem Limited interpretability of regression forests.
method Lasso-pruning and theoretical analysis of regression forests.
result Pruned regression forests can achieve equal or better accuracy than unpruned ones, with significant size reduction.
Improved GAS models using trees and forests for better forecasts.
problem Improving forecasts from GAS models to avoid curse of dimensionality.
method Localized parameters using decision trees and random forests.
result Significantly outperform baseline GAS model in empirical analyses.
We characterize and study variable importance (VIMP) and pairwise variable associations in binary regression trees. A key component involves the node mean squared error for a quantity we refer to as a maximal subtree. The theory naturally extends from single trees to ensembles of trees and applies to methods like rando…
AF improves classification models by adaptively weighting trees.
problem Improving classification model performance.
method AF combines OP2T for input-dependent weights and MIO for dynamic refinement.
result AF consistently outperforms RF, XGBoost, and other weighted RF.
The infinitesimal jackknife (IJ) has recently been applied to the random forest to estimate its prediction variance. These theorems were verified under a traditional random forest framework which uses classification and regression trees (CART) and bootstrap resampling. However, random forests using conditional inferenc…
Develops RKHS framework for analyzing tree ensembles.
problem Analyzing the theoretical properties of tree ensembles.
method Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces (RKHS) for tree ensembles.
result Characterizes Random Forest predictor as minimizer of a penalized empirical risk functional in RKHS.
Paper explains how tree ensembles improve predictions by smoothing and regulating smoothness.
problem Understanding why tree ensembles perform well despite their complexity.
method Interpreting tree ensembles as adaptive and self-regularizing smoothers.
result Ensemble trees make more smooth predictions than individual trees and adjust smoothness based on input dissimilarity.
The paper develops a theory for random forests, separating variance components and providing methods for estimating prediction intervals.
problem Understanding the variance and uncertainty in random forest predictions.
method Design-based theory, Monte Carlo averaging, PASR resampling.
result The floor of prediction uncertainty is positive and persists even without observation overlap, providing conservative prediction intervals.
Two algorithms for interpreting and boosting tree-based models using rule covering.
problem Interpreting and boosting tree-based ensemble methods.
method Mathematical programming models constructed from decision tree rules.
result Selects a few rules that closely match the accuracy of the model.
We propose an algorithm named best-scored random forest for binary classification problems. The terminology "best-scored" means to select the one with the best empirical performance out of a certain number of purely random tree candidates as each single tree in the forest. In this way, the resulting forest can be more …
We study graph estimation and density estimation in high dimensions, using a family of density estimators based on forest structured undirected graphical models. For density estimation, we do not assume the true distribution corresponds to a forest; rather, we form kernel density estimates of the bivariate and univaria…
Random Planted Forest interprets tree-based models by keeping some splits, leading to more interpretable predictions.
problem Estimating the unknown regression function from lower-order interaction terms.
method Modifying the random forest algorithm by keeping certain leaves instead of deleting them, resulting in non-binary trees called planted trees.
result The random planted forest achieves asymptotically optimal convergence rates up to a logarithmic factor when the interaction bound is low.
The paper uses VGG-19 for plant species classification from leaf images.
problem Manual inspection of plant species by botanists is time-consuming.
method Transfer learning with VGG-19 for feature extraction and classification.
result The model achieves 99.70% accuracy in predicting plant species.
Proves bounds on spanning two-forests and random cut sizes.
problem Counting spanning two-forests and estimating random cut sizes.
method Uses pairwise effective resistances and potential theory.
result Establishes bounds on the number of spanning two-forests and average cut size.
TRUST improves tree models' accuracy while maintaining interpretability.
problem Piecewise-constant regression trees lack in predictive accuracy compared to black-box models.
method Combines Random Forest accuracy with interpretability of shallow trees and sparsity of linear models, using LLMs for explanations.
result TRUST outperforms other interpretable models in predictive accuracy and matches Random Forest's accuracy.