Publication Date:
2017-11-02
Description:
Forests, Vol. 8, Pages 417: Compatible System for Predicting Total and Merchantable Stem Volume over and under Bark, Branch Volume and Whole-Tree Volume of Pine Species Forests doi: 10.3390/f8110417 Authors: José Corral-Rivas Daniel Vega-Nieva Roque Rodríguez-Soalleiro Carlos López-Sánchez Christian Wehenkel Benedicto Vargas-Larreta Juan Álvarez-González Ana Ruiz-González Accurate quantification of branch volume in trees is important for sustainable forest management, especially as these fractions are increasingly used for bioenergy, and for precise forest CO2 quantification. Whereas a large focus has been placed on the compatible estimation of tree taper and bole volume with and without bark, little effort has been made to develop models that allow a simultaneous prediction of these variables together with tree branch volume. In this study, 595 Pinus cooperi trees and 700 Pinus durangensis trees were sampled in pine-oak forests in the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico. A compatible system for predicting two segmented taper functions, over and under bark; the corresponding merchantable volumes; coarse branch volume and whole-tree volume was fitted using a modified continuous autoregressive structure to account for autocorrelation. The proposed compatible equations explained more than 97% of the observed variability in diameter over and under bark, volume over and under bark, and total tree volume and more than 64% of the observed variability in branch volume in both species. The method described can theoretically be replicated for any tree species, thus providing a better understanding of the patterns of volume distribution by components, potentially improving carbon accounting system and forest bioenergy planning.
Electronic ISSN:
1999-4907
Topics:
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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