Simplified methods to inventory the current annual increment of forest standing volume
Author(s)
Marziliano, Pasquale Antonio
Menguzzato, Giuliano
Scuderi, Angelo
Corona, Piermaria
Date Issued
2012
Type
article
Abstract
The assessment of the current annual increment of forest standing volume
(CAI) is a fundamental tool to support forest management and planning. A suitable
approach to such an end is to rely on growth and yield models. However,
this kind of models are often not available for many countries and/or locations
and/or species. Furthermore, they may become obsolete due to potential
changes in the environmental and silvicultural conditions. Such shortcomings
may be distinctively detrimental in the context of forest inventories. Several
methods have been proposed to inventory CAI on one single occasion, i.e.,
when repeated measurements of standing volume are not available. A wellknown
family of methods, still largely exploited in Alpine and Eastern
European countries, derives from the estimation of the percentage current annual
increment of forest standing volume by the current annual increments of
stem diameter and tree height (Δh). In this study an experimental comparison
of Δh assessment by three different approaches is presented with reference to
a properly designed case study: (i) Δh is measured on felled trees; (ii) Δh is estimated
by dynamic height curve (i.e., diameter-height-age model); (iii) Δh is
estimated by conventional height curve (i.e., diameter-height model). Under
the examined experimental conditions (a pure forest of silver fir on highly fertile
soils in southern Italy, aged around 60 years), both simplified approaches
(ii) and (iii) have proven to underestimate height increments, with a larger underestimation
by the approach based on the conventional height curve. However,
the consequent error in the estimation of percentage current annual increment
of forest standing volume has proved to be quite limited (4% for the
approach based on the dynamic height curve and around 9% for the approach
based on the conventional height curve). Hence, such simplified approaches
may be rather safely considered for estimating percentage current annual increment
of forest standing volume when neither Δh is directly detectable on
standing trees nor sample trees can be felled, nor an appropriate model to
predict Δh is available. The Δh estimation on the conventional height curve
should turn out to be even more suitable in the case of uneven-aged stands,
where the position of the height curve remains stationary over time.
Additional information
L'articolo è disponibile sul sito dell'editore www.sisef.it
Citation
Marziliano, P. A. et al. 2012. Simplified methods to inventory the current annual increment of forest standing volume. "iForest" 5: 276-282
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