scholarly journals Percentile based basal area diameter distribution models for Scots pine, Norway spruce and birch species

Silva Fennica ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Kangas ◽  
Matti Maltamo
2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauri Mehtätalo

A height–diameter (H–D) model for Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) was estimated from longitudinal data. The Korf growth curve was used as the H–D curve. Firstly, H–D curves for each stand at each measurement time were fitted, and the trends in the parameters of the H–D curve were modeled. Secondly, the trends were included in the H–D model to estimate the whole model at once. To take the hierarchy of the data into account, a mixed-model approach was used. This makes it possible to calibrate the model for a new stand at a given point in time using sample tree height(s). The heights may be from different points in time and need not be from the point in time being predicted. The trends in the parameters of the H–D curve were not estimated as a function of stand age but as a function of the median diameter of basal area weighted diameter distribution (dGm). This approach was chosen because the stand ages may differ substantially among stands with similar current growth patterns. This is true especially with shade-tolerant tree species, which can regenerate and survive for several years beneath the dominant canopy layer and start rapid growth later. The growth patterns in stands with a given dGm, on the other hand, seem not to vary much. This finding indicates that the growth pattern of a stand does not depend on stand age but on mean tree size in the stand.


1992 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Knowe

Abstract Prediction equations were developed for basal area and percentiles of diameter distributions to account for the hardwood component in site-prepared, Piedmont and Upper Coastal Plain loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantations. Unlike existing stand-level simulation models that incorporate hardwood competition, the new equations resulted in constant total basal area regardless of the amount of hardwood competition and permitted the variance of the diameter distribution to increase with increasing proportion of hardwoods. The equations presented can be used with existing dominant height, survival, and volume equations as a tool for assessing the impact of hardwoods on loblolly pine yield. South. J. Appl. For. 16(2):93-98.


2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (No. 6) ◽  
pp. 254-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Novák Jiří ◽  
Dušek David ◽  
Slodičák Marian ◽  
Kacálek Dušan

Experimental results from the first thinning in mixed stands are not broadly experienced by forestry practice. To extend the experience with the thinning of a mixed stand, we studied thinned and unthinned mixtures of Norway spruce with European beech on two study sites in the Czech Republic, which represented different conditions: Všeteč (age of 19–35 years) – originally beech dominated site at 440 m a.s.l. and Deštné (age of 17–33 years) – originally spruce with beech site at 990 m a.s.l. Spruce and beech were mixed individually or in small groups. As the for number of trees, mixtures were 35–54% beech and 46–65% spruce at a lower altitude and 7–30% beech and 70–93% spruce at a higher altitude. In the period 1997–2013, we observed annually: mortality, diameter at breast height of all trees and height of trees (minimum 30 individuals) that represented diameter distribution. Results showed that the growth and development of young mixed spruce/beech stands were positively influenced by the first pre-commercial thinning on both locations. The most pronounced effect of thinning consisted in a decreased amount of basal area of dead trees. On control plots, salvage cut accounted for 34 and 46%, while on thinned plots it reached only 7–8% (thinned from above) and 18% (thinned from below) of basal area periodic increment during the 16-year study period. In contrast, diameter distribution was still relatively wide (i.e. an important amount of thin trees was left) at the end of observations on all plots of both study sites. Thinned stands also showed the better static stability (expressed as an h/d ratio) of dominant spruces compared to unthinned stands on both locations. Additionally, thinning supported the spruce share at a lower altitude and the  beech share at a higher altitude.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 1006-1018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Vospernik ◽  
Robert A. Monserud ◽  
Hubert Sterba

We examined the relationship between thinning intensity and volume increment predicted by four commonly used individual-tree growth models in Central Europe (i.e., BWIN, Moses, Prognaus, and Silva). We replicated conditions of older growth and yield experiments by selecting 34 young, dense plots of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.). At these plots, we simulated growth, with mortality only, to obtain the maximum basal area. Maximum basal area was then decreased by 5% or 10% steps using thinning from below. Maximum density varied considerably between simulators; it was mostly in a reasonable range but partly exceeded the maximum basal area observed by the Austrian National Forest Inventory or the self-thinning line. In almost all cases, simulated volume increment was highest at maximum basal area and then decreased with decreasing basal area. Critical basal area, at which 95% of maximum volume increment can be achieved, ranged from 0.46 to 0.96. For all simulators, critical basal area was lower for the more shade-tolerant species. It increased with age, except for Norway spruce, when simulated with the BWIN model. Age, where mean annual increment culminated, compared well with yield tables.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Solveiga Luguza ◽  
Guntars Snepsts ◽  
Janis Donis ◽  
Iveta Desaine ◽  
Endijs Baders ◽  
...  

Continuous cover forestry (CCF) aims to emulate small natural disturbances and take advantage of natural regeneration. To implement these management practices successfully, knowledge of advance regeneration under the canopy in different conditions is crucial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the influence of stand inventory parameters of canopy layer (age, basal area, height, and density) on the probability and density of advance regeneration of the Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in hemiboreal forests in Latvia. The data were obtained from the National Forest Inventory, from a total of 879 plots. In the study, only Norway spruce or Scots pine dominated stands were used and the sampled stand age ranged from 21 to 218 years. The probability of advance regeneration differed between stands dominated by Scots pine versus Norway spruce. The probability and density of the advance regeneration of Norway spruce were positively linked to increased stand age, whereas the probability of the advance regeneration of Scots pine was negatively linked to the basal area of the stand. In stands dominated by Norway spruce and Scots pine on mesic soils, the advance regeneration of Norway spruce has a high density, whereas the advance regeneration of Scots pine is sporadic and scarce.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 943
Author(s):  
Katri Nissinen ◽  
Virpi Virjamo ◽  
Antti Kilpeläinen ◽  
Veli-Pekka Ikonen ◽  
Laura Pikkarainen ◽  
...  

We studied the growth responses of boreal Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) and silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) seedlings to simulated climate warming of an average of 1.3 °C over the growing season in a controlled field experiment in central Finland. We had six replicate plots for elevated and ambient temperature for each tree species. The warming treatment lasted for the conifers for three growing seasons and for the birch two growing seasons. We measured the height and diameter growth of all the seedlings weekly during the growing season. The shoot and root biomass and their ratios were measured annually in one-third of seedlings harvested from each plot in autumn. After two growing seasons, the height, diameter and shoot biomass were 45%, 19% and 41% larger in silver birch seedlings under the warming treatment, but the root biomass was clearly less affected. After three growing seasons, the height, diameter, shoot and root biomass were under a warming treatment 39, 47, 189 and 113% greater in Scots pine, but the root:shoot ratio 29% lower, respectively. The corresponding responses of Norway spruce to warming were clearly smaller (e.g., shoot biomass 46% higher under a warming treatment). As a comparison, the relative response of height growth in silver birch was after two growing seasons equal to that measured in Scots pine after three growing seasons. Based on our findings, especially silver birch seedlings, but also Scots pine seedlings benefitted from warming, which should be taken into account in forest regeneration in the future.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Norman Goodwin

Abstract Diameter distribution models based on probability density functions are integral to many forest growth and yield systems, where they are used to estimate product volumes within diameter classes. The three-parameter Weibull function with a constrained nonnegative lower bound is commonly used because of its flexibility and ease of fitting. This study compared Weibull and reverse Weibull functions with and without a lower bound constraint and left-hand truncation, across three large unthinned plantation cohorts in which 81% of plots had negatively skewed diameter distributions. Near-optimal lower bounds for the unconstrained Weibull function were negative for negatively skewed data, and the left-truncated Weibull using these bounds was 14.2% more accurate than the constrained Weibull, based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic. The truncated reverse Weibull fit dominant tree distributions 23.7% more accurately than the constrained Weibull, based on a mean absolute difference statistic. This work indicates that a blind spot may have developed in plantation growth modeling systems deploying constrained Weibull functions, and that left-truncation of unconstrained functions could substantially improve model accuracy for negatively skewed distributions.


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