Forest Mensuration

by John A. Kershaw Jr., Mark J. Ducey, Thomas W. Beers, Bertram Husch

Overview

Forest mensuration – the science of measurement applied to forest vegetation and forest products – holds value for basic ecology as well as sustainable forest management.  As demands on the world’s forests have grown, scientists and professionals are increasingly called on to quantify forest composition, structure, and the goods and services forests provide.  Grounded in geometry, sampling theory, and ecology as well as practical field experience, forest mensuration offers opportunities for creative problem solving and critical thinking. 

This fifth edition of the classic volume, Forest Mensuration, includes coverage of traditional and emerging topics, with attention to SI and Imperial units throughout. The book has been reorganised from the fourth edition to better integrate non-timber and ecological aspects of forest mensuration at the tree, stand, forest, and landscape scales throughout.  The new edition includes new chapters that specifically address the integration of remotely sensed data in the forest inventory process, and inventory methods for dead and downed wood. One unifying theme, not only for traditional forestry but for the non-timber inventory and for remote sensing, is the use of covariates to make sampling more efficient and spatially explicit.  This is introduced in the introductory chapter on statistics and the chapter on sampling designs has been restructured to highlight this approach and lay the foundation for further learning. New examples will be developed throughout the textbook with an emphasis on current issues and international practice.

Students in applied forestry programs will find ample coverage of forest products and timber inventory, while expanded material on biodiversity, biomass and carbon inventory, downed dead wood, and the growing role of remote sensing in forest assessment will be valuable to a broader audience in applied ecology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118902004
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	11/01/2016
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	640
File size:	26 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

John A. Kershaw, Jr. Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Canada.

Mark J. Ducey, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, USA.

Thomas W. Beers, Emeritus Professor of Forestry, Purdue University, USA.

Bertram Husch, former Forestry Consultant at INFORA Estudios Ltda. in Santiago, Chile, and former Forest Mensurationist, FAO.

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Table of Contents

Preface xiv

1 Introduction 1

1.1. Role of Forest Mensuration in Forest Management 2

1.2. Forest Mensuration as a Tool for Monitoring Forests 3

1.3. Relevance of Forest Mensuration for Ecology and Nontimber Resources 4

1.4. Design and Planning of Inventories 5

2 Principles of Measurement 13

2.1. Scales of Measurement 14

2.2. Units of Measurement 16

2.3. Systems of Measurement 16

2.4. Variables 21

2.5. Precision, Accuracy, and Bias 21

2.6. Significant Digits and Rounding Off 23

2.7. Data Summary and Presentation 27

2.8. Fundamental Measurements 30

3 Basic Statistical Concepts 34

3.1. Descriptive Statistics 34

3.2. Frequency Distributions 38

3.3. Measures of Central Tendency 40

3.4. Measures of Dispersion 42

3.5. Sampling Error 45

3.6. Sample Size Determination 50

3.7. Influence of Scalar Transformations and the Estimation of Totals 52

3.8. Correlation and Regression Estimation 53

3.9. Use of Covariates to Improve Estimation 63

4 Land Area Determination in Forest Mensuration 67

4.1. Land Distance and Area Units 68

4.2. Measuring Distances 68

4.3. Measuring Area in the Field 73

4.4. Measuring Area Using Maps and Photos 73

4.5. Determination of Photo Scale 76

4.6. Determination of Direction Using a Compass 80

4.7. The U.S. Public Land Surveys 82

4.8. Global Positioning Systems 86

4.9. Geographic Information Systems 89

5 Individual Tree Parameters 92

5.1. Age 92

5.2. Tree Diameters and Cross‐Sectional Areas 95

5.3. Height 108

5.4. Form 121

5.5. Crown Parameters 125

5.6. Regression and Allometric Approaches 130

6 Determination of Tree Volume Weight and Biomass 135

6.1. Measurement of Individual Trees 137

6.2. Allometric Equations for Volume, Weight, and Biomass 156

6.3. Tabular Estimation 160

6.4. Volume and Biomass Distribution in Trees 167

6.5. Other Methods of Estimating Tree Content 173

6.6. Applications to Seedlings and Understory Vegetation 179

6.7. Applications to Snags and Down Woody Material 179

7 Measurement of Primary Forest Products 184

7.1. Units of Measurement of Forest Products 184

7.2. Log Rules 186

7.3. Board Foot Log Rules 186

7.4. Log Scaling 195

7.5. Scaling Stacked Volume 199

7.6. Volume Unit Conversion 200

7.7. Scaling By Weight 204

8 Stand Parameters 210

8.1. Age 211

8.2. Species Composition 212

8.3. Diameter 219

8.4. Height 228

8.5. Volume, Weight, and Biomass 232

8.6. Crown and Canopy Measurements 236

8.7. Understory and Regeneration 239

8.8. Site Quality 250

8.9. Density and Stocking 259

9 Sampling Units for Estimating Parameters 273

9.1. The Factor Concept 274

9.2. Fixed‐Area Plots 276

9.3. Sampling Trees with Variable Probability 287

9.4. Other Examples of Variable Probability Sampling 298

9.5. Distance‐Based Sampling Units 299

9.6. Selecting Appropriate Sampling Units 303

10 Sampling Designs in Forest Inventories 305

10.1. Basic Considerations 305

10.2. Simple Random Sampling (SRS) 311

10.3. Systematic Sampling (SYS) 318

10.4. Selective or Opportunistic Sampling 326

10.5. Stratified Sampling (STS) 327

10.6. Cluster Sampling 334

10.7. Multistage Sampling 338

10.8. Sampling with Covariates 343

10.9. List Sampling 353

10.10. 3P Sampling 357

11 Inventory of Standing Trees Using Sampling with Varying Probability 361

11.1. Horizontal Point Sampling (HPS) 362

11.2. Subsampling in HPS 377

11.3. Other Variable Probability Sampling Techniques 386

12 Inventory of Downed Dead Material Using Sampling with Varying Probability 393

12.1. Fixed‐Area Plots 394

12.2. Line Intersect Sampling 398

12.3. Angle Gauge Methods 406

12.4. Perpendicular Distance Sampling (PDS) 414

12.5. Other Methods 425

12.6. Design Considerations and Selection of Methods 427

13 Integrating Remote Sensing in Forest Inventory 429

13.1. Types of Remotely Sensed Data 429

13.2. Remote Sensing for Stratification 442

13.3. Individual Tree Measurements 446

13.4. Remote Sensing for Covariates 449

14 Measurement of Tree and Stand Growth 455

14.1. Individual Tree Growth 456

14.2. Direct Measurement of Tree Growth 460

14.3. Reconstructing Tree Growth 465

14.4. Stand and Forest Growth 474

14.5. Measurement of Stand and Forest Growth and Yield 479

14.6. Considerations for the Design and Maintenance of Permanent Sample Plot Systems 494

14.7. Growth and Yield Models 503

Appendix 519

References 550

Index 592