Unlocking the forest inventory data: relating individual tree performance to unmeasured environmental factors

Treesearch

Jeremy W. Lichstein; Jonathan Dushoff; Kiona Ogle; Anping Chen; Drew W. Purves; John P. Caspersen; Stephen W. Pacala

2010-01-01

Geographically extensive forest inventories, such as the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, contain millions of individual tree growth and mortality records that could be used to develop broad-scale models of forest dynamics. A limitation of inventory data, however, is that individual-level measurements of light (L) and other...

Mortality rates associated with crown health for eastern forest tree species

Treesearch

Randall S. Morin; KaDonna C. Randolph; Jim Steinman

2015-01-01

The condition of tree crowns is an important indicator of tree and forest health. Crown conditions have been evaluated during inventories of the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program since 1999. In this study, remeasured data from 55,013 trees on 2616 FIA plots in the eastern USA were used to assess the probability of survival among various tree...

Standing dead tree resources in forests of the United States

Treesearch

Christopher W. Woodall; Karen L. Waddell; Christopher M. Oswalt; James E. Smith

2013-01-01

Given the importance of standing dead trees to numerous forest ecosystem attributes/ processes such as fuel loadings and wildlife habitat, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, initiated a consistent nationwide inventory of standing dead trees in 1999. As the first cycle of annual standing dead tree...

A System to Derive Optimal Tree Diameter Increment Models from the Eastwide Forest Inventory Data Base (EFIDB)

Treesearch

Don C. Bragg

2002-01-01

This article is an introduction to the computer software used by the Potential Relative Increment (PRI) approach to optimal tree diameter growth modeling. These DOS programs extract qualified tree and plot data from the Eastwide Forest Inventory Data Base (EFIDB), calculate relative tree increment, sort for the highest relative increments by diameter class, and...

Big trees in the southern forest inventory

Treesearch

Christopher M. Oswalt; Sonja N. Oswalt; Thomas J. Brandeis

2010-01-01

Big trees fascinate people worldwide, inspiring respect, awe, and oftentimes, even controversy. This paper uses a modified version of American Forests’ Big Trees Measuring Guide point system (May 1990) to rank trees sampled between January of 1998 and September of 2007 on over 89,000 plots by the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Inventory and...

Assessing the effect of snow/water obstructions on the measurement of tree seedlings in a large-scale temperate forest inventory

Treesearch

C.W. Woodall; J.A. Westfall; K. Zhu; D.J. Johnson

2013-01-01

National-scale forest inventories have endeavoured to include holistic measurements of forest health inclusive of attributes such as downed dead wood and tree regeneration that occur in the forest understory. Inventories may require year-round measurement of inventory plots with some of these measurements being affected by seasonal obstructions (e.g. snowpacks and...

A life cycle greenhouse gas inventory of a tree production system

Treesearch

Alissa Kendall; E. Gregory McPherson

2012-01-01

PurposeThis study provides a detailed, process-based life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory of an ornamental tree production system for urban forestry. The success of large-scale tree planting initiatives for climate protection depends on projects being net sinks for CO2 over their entire life cycle....

Adjustments to forest inventory and analysis estimates of 2001 saw-log volumes for Kentucky

Treesearch

Stanley J. Zarnoch; Jeffery A. Turner

2005-01-01

The 2001 Kentucky Forest Inventory and Analysis survey overestimated hardwood saw-log volume in tree grade 1. This occurred because 2001 field crews classified too many trees as grade 1 trees. Data collected by quality assurance crews were used to generate two types of adjustments, one based on the proportion of trees misclassified and the other on the proportion of...

Repeated measures from FIA data facilitates analysis across spatial scales of tree growth responses to nitrogen deposition from individual trees to whole ecoregions

Treesearch

Charles H. (Hobie) Perry; Kevin J. Horn; R. Quinn Thomas; Linda H. Pardo; Erica A.H. Smithwick; Doug Baldwin; Gregory B. Lawrence; Scott W. Bailey; Sabine Braun; Christopher M. Clark; Mark Fenn; Annika Nordin; Jennifer N. Phelan; Paul G. Schaberg; Sam St. Clair; Richard Warby; Shaun Watmough; Steven S. Perakis

2015-01-01

The abundance of temporally and spatially consistent Forest Inventory and Analysis data facilitates hierarchical/multilevel analysis to investigate factors affecting tree growth, scaling from plot-level to continental scales. Herein we use FIA tree and soil inventories in conjunction with various spatial climate and soils data to estimate species-specific responses of...

Effects of Measurement Errors on Individual Tree Stem Volume Estimates for the Austrian National Forest Inventory

Treesearch

Ambros Berger; Thomas Gschwantner; Ronald E. McRoberts; Klemens Schadauer

2014-01-01

National forest inventories typically estimate individual tree volumes using models that rely on measurements of predictor variables such as tree height and diameter, both of which are subject to measurement error. The aim of this study was to quantify the impacts of these measurement errors on the uncertainty of the model-based tree stem volume estimates. The impacts...

Integration of ecological indices in the multivariate evaluation of an urban inventory of street trees

Treesearch

J. Grabinsky; A. Aldama; A. Chacalo; H. J. Vazquez

2000-01-01

Inventory data of Mexico City's street trees were studied using classical statistical arboricultural and ecological statistical approaches. Multivariate techniques were applied to both. Results did not differ substantially and were complementary. It was possible to reduce inventory data and to group species, boroughs, blocks, and variables.

A practical modification of horizontal line sampling for snag and cavity tree inventory

Treesearch

M. J. Ducey; G. J. Jordan; J. H. Gove; H. T. Valentine

2002-01-01

Snags and cavity trees are important structural features in forests, but they are often sparsely distributed, making efficient inventories problematic. We present a straightforward modification of horizontal line sampling designed to facilitate inventory of these features while remaining compatible with commonly employed sampling methods for the living overstory. The...

Geospatial Technologies and i-Tree Echo Inventory for Predicting Climate Change on Urban Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sriharan, S.; Robinson, L.; Ghariban, N.; Comar, M.; Pope, B.; Frey, G.

2015-12-01

Urban forests can be useful both in mitigating climate change and in helping cities adapt to higher temperatures and other impacts of climate change. Understanding and managing the impacts of climate change on the urban forest trees and natural communities will help us maintain their environmental, cultural, and economic benefits. Tree Inventory can provide important information on tree species, height, crown width, overall condition, health and maintenance needs. This presentation will demonstrate that a trees database system is necessary for developing a sustainable urban tree program. Virginia State University (VSU) campus benefits from large number and diversity of trees that are helping us by cleaning the air, retaining water, and providing shade on the buildings to reduce energy cost. The objectives of this study were to develop campus inventory of the trees, identify the tree species, map the locations of the trees with user-friendly tools such as i-Tree Eco and geospatial technologies by assessing the cost/benefit of employing student labor for training and ground validation of the results, and help campus landscape managers implement adaptive responses to climate change impacts. Data was collected on the location, species, and size of trees by using i-Tree urban forestry analysis software. This data was transferred to i-Tree inventory system for demonstrating types of trees, diameter of the trees, height of the trees, and vintage of the trees. The study site was mapped by collecting waypoints with GPS (Global Positioning System) at the trees and uploading these waypoints in ArcMap. The results of this study showed that: (i) students make good field crews, (ii) if more trees were placed in the proper area, the heating and cooling costs will reduce, and (iii) trees database system is necessary for planning, designing, planting, and maintenance, and removal of campus trees Research sponsored by the NIFA Grant, "Urban Forestry Management" (2012-38821-20153).

Inventorying trees in agricultural landscapes: toward an accounting of working trees

Treesearch

Carol H. Perry; Christopher W. Woodall; Michele M. Schoeneberger

2005-01-01

Agroforestry plantings and other trees intentionally established in rural and urban areas are emerging as innovative managemnt options for addressing resource issues and achieving landscape-level goals, An understanding of the contributions from these and future plantings would provide critical information to policy and program developers, and a comprehensive inventory...

Recent changes in the estimation of standing dead tree biomass and carbon stocks in the U.S. forest inventory

Treesearch

Grant M. Domke; Christopher W. Woodall; James E. Smith

2012-01-01

Until recently, standing dead tree biomass and carbon (C) has been estimated as a function of live tree growing stock volume in the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program. Traditional estimates of standing dead tree biomass/C attributes were based on merchantability standards that did not reflect density reductions or structural loss due to...

Forest statistics for Delaware: 1986 and 1999

Treesearch

Douglas M. Griffith; Richard H. Widmann; Richard H. Widmann

2001-01-01

A statistical report on the fourth forest inventory of Delaware conducted in 1999 by the Forest Inventory and Analysis Unit of the Northeastern Research Station. Statistics for forest area, numbers of trees, tree biomass, timber volume, growth, and change are displayed at the state and, where appropriate, the county level. The current inventory indicates that there are...

Forest statistics for West Virginia: 1989 and 2000

Treesearch

Douglas M. Griffith; Richard H. Widmann

2003-01-01

A statistical report on the fifth forest inventory of West Virginia conducted in 2000 by the Forest Inventory and Analysis unit of the Northeastern Research Station. Statistics for forest area, numbers of trees, tree biomass, timber volume, growth, and change are displayed at the state and, where appropriate, the county level. The current inventory indicates that there...

A framework for reporting tree cover attributes in agricultural landscapes

Treesearch

Dacia M. Meneguzzo; Greg C. Liknes

2012-01-01

The definition of forest land used by the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis program includes area, width, and density requirements. These requirements frequently exclude from the inventory any trees occupyingnarrow riparian corridors or linear tree plantings (e.g., windbreaks and shelterbelts). With recent attention being paid to such topics as bio-...

Complementing forest inventory data with information from unmanned aerial vehicle imagery and photogrammetry

Treesearch

Nikolay S. Strigul; Demetrios Gatziolis; Jean F. Liénard; Andre Vogs

2015-01-01

Although a prerequisite for an accurate assessment of tree competition, growth, and morphological plasticity, measurements conducive to three-dimensional (3D) representations of individual trees are seldom part of forest inventory operations. This is in part because until recently our ability to measure the dimensionality, spatial arrangement, and shape of trees and...

Biomass statistics for the Northern United States

Treesearch

Eric H. Wharton; Gerhard K. Raile

1984-01-01

The USDA Forest Service now estimates biomass during periodic resource inventories. Such biomass estimates quantify more of the forest resource than do traditional volume inventories that concentrate on tree boles. More than 48 percent of the aboveground tree biomass in the northern United States can be found in woody material outside of the boles. Tree biomass in the...

Applying survival analysis to a large-scale forest inventory for assessment of tree mortality in Minnesota

Treesearch

C.W. Woodall; P.L. Grambsch; W. Thomas

2005-01-01

Tree mortality has traditionally been assessed in forest inventories through summaries of mortality by location, species, and causal agents. Although these methods have historically constituted the majority of tree mortality summarizations, they have had limited use in assessing mortality trends and dynamics. This study proposed a novel method of applying survival...

Building the Forest Inventory and Analysis Tree-Ring Data set

Treesearch

Robert J. DeRose; John D. Shaw; James N. Long

2017-01-01

The Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis (IW-FIA) program measures forestland conditions at great extent with relatively high spatial resolution, including the collection of tree-ring data. We describe the development of an unprecedented spatial tree-ring data set for the IW-FIA that enhances the baseline plot data by incorporating ring-width increment measured...

A practical approach to assessing structure, function, and value of street tree populations in small communities

Treesearch

S.E. Maco; E.G. McPherson

2003-01-01

This study demonstrates an approach to quantify the structure, benefits, and costs of street tree populations in resource-limited communities without tree inventories. Using the city of Davis, California, U.S., as a model, existing data on the benefits and costs of municipal trees were applied to the results of a sample inventory of the city’s public and private street...

An alternative method for estimating crown characteristics of urban trees using digital photographs

Treesearch

Matthew F. Winn; Philip A. Araman

2012-01-01

The USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program has concluded that statewide urban forest inventories are feasible based on a series of pilot studies initiated in 2001. However, much of the tree crown data collected during inventories are based on visual inspection and therefore highly subjective. In order to objectively determine the crown...

Detecting change in advance tree regeneration using forest inventory data: the implications of type II error

Treesearch

James A. Westfall; William H. McWilliams

2012-01-01

Achieving adequate and desirable forest regeneration is necessary for maintaining native tree species and forest composition. Advance tree seedling and sapling regeneration is the basis of the next stand and serves as an indicator of future composition. The Pennsylvania Regeneration Study was implemented statewide to monitor regeneration on a subset of Forest Inventory...

Tree migration detection through comparisons of historic and current forest inventories

Treesearch

Christopher W. Woodall; Christopher M. Oswalt; James A. Westfall; Charles H. Perry; Mark N. Nelson

2009-01-01

Changes in tree species distributions are a potential impact of climate change on forest ecosystems. The examination of tree species shifts in forests of the eastern United States largely has been limited to modeling activities with little empirical analysis of long-term forest inventory datasets. The goal of this study was to compare historic and current spatial...

Quantifying allometric model uncertainty for plot-level live tree biomass stocks with a data-driven, hierarchical framework

Treesearch

Brian J. Clough; Matthew B. Russell; Grant M. Domke; Christopher W. Woodall

2016-01-01

Accurate uncertainty assessments of plot-level live tree biomass stocks are an important precursor to estimating uncertainty in annual national greenhouse gas inventories (NGHGIs) developed from forest inventory data. However, current approaches employed within the United States’ NGHGI do not specifically incorporate methods to address error in tree-scale biomass...

SWAT (Student Weekend Arborist Team): A Model for Land Grant Institutions and Cooperative Extension Systems to Conduct Street Tree Inventories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowett, F.D.; Bassuk, N.L.

2012-01-01

SWAT (Student Weekend Arborist Team) is a program affiliated with Cornell University and Extension founded to conduct street tree inventories in New York State communities with 10,000 residents or fewer, a group of communities underserved in community forestry planning. Between 2002 and 2010, SWAT conducted 40 inventories, and data from these…

Investigation into calculating tree biomass and carbon in the FIADB using a biomass expansion factor approach

Treesearch

Linda S. Heath; Mark Hansen; James E. Smith; Patrick D. Miles

2009-01-01

The official U.S. forest carbon inventories (U.S. EPA 2008) have relied on tree biomass estimates that utilize diameter based prediction equations from Jenkins and others (2003), coupled with U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) sample tree measurements and forest area estimates. However, these biomass prediction equations are not the equations used...

Using inventory data to determine the impact of drought on tree mortality

Treesearch

Greg C. Liknes; Christopher W. Woodall; Charles H. Perry

2012-01-01

Drought has been the subject of numerous recent studies that hint at an acceleration of tree mortality due to climate change. In particular, a recent global survey of tree mortality events implicates drought as the cause of quaking aspen mortality in Minnesota, USA in 2007. In this study, data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program of the USDA Forest Service...

A tool to determine crown and plot canopy transparency for forest inventory and analysis phase 3 plots using digital photographs

Treesearch

Matthew F. Winn; Philip A. Araman

2012-01-01

The USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program collects crown foliage transparency estimates for individual trees on Phase 3 (P3) inventory plots. The FIA crown foliage estimate is obtained from a pair of perpendicular side views of the tree. Researchers with the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station have developed a computer program that...

Feasibility of high-density climate reconstruction based on Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) collected tree-ring data

Treesearch

R. Justin DeRose; Shih-Yu Wang; John D. Shaw

2013-01-01

This study introduces a novel tree-ring dataset, with unparalleled spatial density, for use as a climate proxy. Ancillary Douglas fir and pinyon pine tree-ring data collected by the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA data) were subjected to a series of tests to determine their feasibility as climate proxies. First, temporal coherence between...

Forest Tree Species Distribution Mapping Using Landsat Satellite Imagery and Topographic Variables with the Maximum Entropy Method in Mongolia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao Chiang, Shou; Valdez, Miguel; Chen, Chi-Farn

2016-06-01

Forest is a very important ecosystem and natural resource for living things. Based on forest inventories, government is able to make decisions to converse, improve and manage forests in a sustainable way. Field work for forestry investigation is difficult and time consuming, because it needs intensive physical labor and the costs are high, especially surveying in remote mountainous regions. A reliable forest inventory can give us a more accurate and timely information to develop new and efficient approaches of forest management. The remote sensing technology has been recently used for forest investigation at a large scale. To produce an informative forest inventory, forest attributes, including tree species are unavoidably required to be considered. In this study the aim is to classify forest tree species in Erdenebulgan County, Huwsgul province in Mongolia, using Maximum Entropy method. The study area is covered by a dense forest which is almost 70% of total territorial extension of Erdenebulgan County and is located in a high mountain region in northern Mongolia. For this study, Landsat satellite imagery and a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were acquired to perform tree species mapping. The forest tree species inventory map was collected from the Forest Division of the Mongolian Ministry of Nature and Environment as training data and also used as ground truth to perform the accuracy assessment of the tree species classification. Landsat images and DEM were processed for maximum entropy modeling, and this study applied the model with two experiments. The first one is to use Landsat surface reflectance for tree species classification; and the second experiment incorporates terrain variables in addition to the Landsat surface reflectance to perform the tree species classification. All experimental results were compared with the tree species inventory to assess the classification accuracy. Results show that the second one which uses Landsat surface reflectance coupled with terrain variables produced better result, with the higher overall accuracy and kappa coefficient than first experiment. The results indicate that the Maximum Entropy method is an applicable, and to classify tree species using satellite imagery data coupled with terrain information can improve the classification of tree species in the study area.

Assessing tree species assemblages in highly disturbed Puerto Rican karst landscapes using forest inventory data

Treesearch

Thomas James Brandeis

2006-01-01

Tree species assemblages described by landscape-scale forest inventory data both agreed and differed from those described by intensive, site specific studies in Puerto Rico's highly disturbed northern karst belt. Species assemblages found on hill tops (typified by Tabebuia heterophylla or Bursera simaruba with ...

Applying and Individual-Based Model to Simultaneously Evaluate Net Ecosystem Production and Tree Diameter Increment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, F. J.

2017-12-01

Reconciling observations at fundamentally different scales is central in understanding the global carbon cycle. This study investigates a model-based melding of forest inventory data, remote-sensing data and micrometeorological-station data ("flux towers" estimating forest heat, CO2 and H2O fluxes). The individual tree-based model FORCCHN was used to evaluate the tree DBH increment and forest carbon fluxes. These are the first simultaneous simulations of the forest carbon budgets from flux towers and individual-tree growth estimates of forest carbon budgets using the continuous forest inventory data — under circumstances in which both predictions can be tested. Along with the global implications of such findings, this also improves the capacity for forest sustainable management and the comprehensive understanding of forest ecosystems. In forest ecology, diameter at breast height (DBH) of a tree significantly determines an individual tree's cross-sectional sapwood area, its biomass and carbon storage. Evaluation the annual DBH increment (ΔDBH) of an individual tree is central to understanding tree growth and forest ecology. Ecosystem Carbon flux is a consequence of key ecosystem processes in the forest-ecosystem carbon cycle, Gross and Net Primary Production (GPP and NPP, respectively) and Net Ecosystem Respiration (NEP). All of these closely relate with tree DBH changes and tree death. Despite advances in evaluating forest carbon fluxes with flux towers and forest inventories for individual tree ΔDBH, few current ecological models can simultaneously quantify and predict the tree ΔDBH and forest carbon flux.

Urban FIA: where we have been, where we are, and where we are going

Treesearch

Mark Majewsky

2015-01-01

The FIA program has been inventorying the Nation’s forestland since the 1930s. The focus of the CORE FIA program is to capture trees that meet the FIA definition of forestland, in doing so it excludes trees that do not. Leadership recognized the need to fill this gap and the 2014 Farm Bill has instructed FIA to “Implement an annualized inventory of trees in urban...

A tree biomass and carbon estimation system

Treesearch

Emily B. Schultz; Thomas G. Matney; Donald L. Grebner

2013-01-01

Appropriate forest management decisions for the developing woody biofuel and carbon credit markets require inventory and growth-and-yield systems reporting component tree dry weight biomass estimates. We have developed an integrated growth-and-yield and biomass/carbon calculator. The objective was to provide Mississippi’s State inventory system with bioenergy economic...

Forest statistics for New Hampshire

Treesearch

Thomas S. Frieswyk; Anne M. Malley

1985-01-01

This is a statistical report on the fourth forest survey of New Hampshire conducted in 1982-83 by the Forest Inventory and Analysis Unit, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. Statistics for forest area, numbers of trees, timber volume, tree biomass, and timber products output are displayed at the state, unit, and county levels. The current inventory indicates that...

Estimating the number of tree species in forest populations using current vegetation survey and forest inventory and analysis approximation plots and grid intensities

Treesearch

Hans T. Schreuder; Jin-Mann S. Lin; John Teply

2000-01-01

We estimate number of tree species in National Forest populations using the nonparametric estimator. Data from the Current Vegetation Survey (CVS) of Region 6 of the USDA Forest Service were used to estimate the number of tree species with a plot close in size to the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plot and the actual CVS plot for the 5.5 km FIA grid and the 2.7 km...

Development of height-volume relationships in second growth Abies grandis for use with aerial LiDAR

Treesearch

Wade T. Tinkham; Alistair M. S. Smith; David L. R. Affleck; Jarred D. Saralecos; Michael J. Falkowski; Chad M. Hoffman; Andrew T. Hudak; Michael A. Wulder

2016-01-01

Following typical forest inventory protocols, individual tree volume estimates are generally derived via diameter-at-breast-height (DBH)-based allometry. Although effective, measurement of DBH is time consuming and potentially a costly element in forest inventories. The capacity of airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) to provide individual tree-level...

Biomass statistics for Vermont - 1983

Treesearch

Thomas S. Frieswyk; Anne M. Malley

1986-01-01

A new measure of the forest resource has been added to the fourth forest inventory of Vermont. The inventory, which was conducted in 1982-83, included estimates of aboveground tree biomass on timberland. There are approximately 413 million green tons of wood and bark in the aboveground portion of all trees, which equates to an average of 93 green tons per acre...

Using the PDD Behavior Inventory as a Level 2 Screener: A Classification and Regression Trees Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Ira L.; Liu, Xudong; Hudson, Melissa; Gillis, Jennifer; Cavalari, Rachel N. S.; Romanczyk, Raymond G.; Karmel, Bernard Z.; Gardner, Judith M.

2016-01-01

In order to improve discrimination accuracy between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and similar neurodevelopmental disorders, a data mining procedure, Classification and Regression Trees (CART), was used on a large multi-site sample of PDD Behavior Inventory (PDDBI) forms on children with and without ASD. Discrimination accuracy exceeded 80%,…

Batch reporting of forest inventory statistics using the EVALIDator

Treesearch

Patrick D. Miles

2015-01-01

The EVALIDator Web application, developed in 2007, provides estimates and sampling errors of forest statistics (e.g., forest area, number of trees, tree biomass) from data stored in the Forest Inventory and Analysis database. In response to user demand, new features have been added to the EVALIDator. The most recent additions are 1) the ability to generate multiple...

Forest statistics for Vermont: 1973 and 1983

Treesearch

Thomas S. Frieswyk; Anne M. Malley

1985-01-01

A statistical report on the fourth forest survey of Vermont conducted in 1982-1983 by the Forest Inventory and Analysis Unit, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. Statistics for forest area, numbers of trees, timber volume, tree biomass, and timber products output are displayed at the state, unit, and county levels. The current inventory indicates that the state has...

Sampling procedures for inventory of commercial volume tree species in Amazon Forest.

PubMed

Netto, Sylvio P; Pelissari, Allan L; Cysneiros, Vinicius C; Bonazza, Marcelo; Sanquetta, Carlos R

2017-01-01

The spatial distribution of tropical tree species can affect the consistency of the estimators in commercial forest inventories, therefore, appropriate sampling procedures are required to survey species with different spatial patterns in the Amazon Forest. For this, the present study aims to evaluate the conventional sampling procedures and introduce the adaptive cluster sampling for volumetric inventories of Amazonian tree species, considering the hypotheses that the density, the spatial distribution and the zero-plots affect the consistency of the estimators, and that the adaptive cluster sampling allows to obtain more accurate volumetric estimation. We use data from a census carried out in Jamari National Forest, Brazil, where trees with diameters equal to or higher than 40 cm were measured in 1,355 plots. Species with different spatial patterns were selected and sampled with simple random sampling, systematic sampling, linear cluster sampling and adaptive cluster sampling, whereby the accuracy of the volumetric estimation and presence of zero-plots were evaluated. The sampling procedures applied to species were affected by the low density of trees and the large number of zero-plots, wherein the adaptive clusters allowed concentrating the sampling effort in plots with trees and, thus, agglutinating more representative samples to estimate the commercial volume.

Assessing tree species assemblages in highly disturbed Puerto Rican karst landscapes using forest inventory data.

Treesearch

Thomas James Brandeis

2006-01-01

Tree species assemblages described by landscape-scale forest inventory data both agreed and differed from those described by intensive, site specific studies in Puerto Rico’s highly disturbed northern karst belt. Species assemblages found on hill tops (typified by Tabebuia heterophylla or Bursera simaruba with Coccoloba diversifolia, Licaria parvifolia, and Drypetes...

Where are the Walnut Trees in Minnesota? 1995.

Treesearch

J. Michael Vasievich; Neal P. Kingsley

1995-01-01

The forests of each state are inventoried by the USDA-Forest Service and the state?s forestry agency on a periodic basis. In the Midwest, the North Central Forest Experiment Station coordinates the inventory. The job takes a long time-- sometimes several years from start to finish -- because lots of trees are measured on lots of plots. For example, during the last...

D.B.H. and Survival Analysis: A New Methodology for Assessing Forest Inventory Mortality

Treesearch

Christopher W. Woodall; Patricia L. Grambsch; William Thomas

2005-01-01

Tree mortality has typically been assessed in Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) studies through summaries of mortality by location, species, and causal agents. Although these methods have historically been used for most of FIA's tree mortality analyses, they are inadequate for robust assessment of mortality trends and dynamics. To offer a new method of analyzing...

Distribution and extent of tree mortality in North Central hardwood forests

Treesearch

J. Michael Vasievich; Sharon L. Hobrla; Mark H. Hansen

1997-01-01

Forest inventory data shows that biophysical agents and human causes account for annual losses of more than a half-billion ft³ of timber in North Central hardwood forests. This paper reports on an analysis of forest inventory data to determine the extent and distribution of tree mortality in four forest types - Aspen-Birch, Elm-Ash-Cottonwood, Maple-Beech-...

Biomass statistics for New Hampshire - 1983

Treesearch

Thomas S. Frieswyk; Anne M. Malley

1986-01-01

A new measure of the forest resource has been added to the fourth forest inventory of New Hampshire. The inventory, which was conducted in 1982-83, included estimates of aboveground tree biomass on timberland. There are approximately 502 million green tons of wood and bark in the aboveground portion of all trees, or 104 green tons per acre. Fifty-five percent or 275...

The AFIS tree growth model for updating annual forest inventories in Minnesota

Treesearch

Margaret R. Holdaway

2000-01-01

As the Forest Service moves towards annual inventories, states may use model predictions of growth to update unmeasured plots. A tree growth model (AFIS) based on the scaled Weibull function and using the average-adjusted model form is presented. Annual diameter growth for four species was modeled using undisturbed plots from Minnesota's Aspen-Birch and Northern...

LIDAR forest inventory with single-tree, double- and single-phase procedures

Treesearch

Robert C. Parker; David L. Evans

2009-01-01

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data at 0.5- to 2-m postings were used with doublesample, stratified inventory procedures involving single-tree attribute relationships in mixed, natural, and planted species stands to yield sampling errors (one-half the confidence interval expressed as a percentage of the mean) ranging from ±2.1 percent to ±11.5...

A stem-map model for predicting tree canopy cover of Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots

Treesearch

Chris Toney; John D. Shaw; Mark D. Nelson

2009-01-01

Tree canopy cover is an important stand characteristic that affects understory light, fuel moisture, decomposition rates, wind speed, and wildlife habitat. Canopy cover also is a component of most definitions of forest land used by US and international agencies. The USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program currently does not provide a national...

Using FIA inventory plot data to assess NTFP production possibilities

Treesearch

Jobriath Kauffman; James Chamberlain; Stephen Prisley

2015-01-01

The US Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program collects data on a wealth of variables related to trees and understory species in forests. Some of these trees and plants produce non-timber forest products (NTFPs; e.g., seeds, fruit, bark, sap, roots) that are harvested for their culinary and medicinal values. As example, the cones of Pinus...

National Forest Health Monitoring Program Maryland and Massachusetts Street Tree Monitoring Pilot Projects

Treesearch

Buckelew Cumming Anne; Daniel Twardus; William Smith

2006-01-01

Urban forests have many components: park trees, small woodlands, riparian buffers, street trees, and others. While some communities conduct city-wide inventories of street tree populations, there has been no comprehensive, statewide sampling to characterize the structure, health, and function of street tree populations. A statewide Street Tree Monitoring pilot study...

Comparing the accuracy of terrestrial laser scanner in measuring forest inventory variables to enhance better decision making for potential fire hazards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghimire, Suman; Xystrakis, Fotios; Koutsias, Nikos

2017-04-01

Forest inventory variables are essential in accessing the potential of wildfire hazard, obtaining above ground biomass and carbon sequestration which helps developing strategies for sustainable management of forests. Effective management of forest resources relies on the accuracy of such inventory variables. This study aims to compare the accuracy in obtaining the forest inventory variables like diameter at breast height (DBH) and tree height from Terrestrial Laser Scanner (Faro Focus 3D X 330) with that from the traditional forest inventory techniques in the Mediterranean forests of Greece. The data acquisition was carried out on an area of 9,539.8 m2 with six plots each of radius 6 m. Computree algorithm was applied for automatic detection of DBH from terrestrial laser scanner data. Similarly, tree height was estimated manually using CloudCompare software for the terrestrial laser scanner data. The field estimates of DBH and tree height was carried out using calipers and Nikon Forestry 550 Laser Rangefinder. The comparison of DBH measured between field estimates and Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS), resulted in R squared values ranging from 0.75 to 0.96 at the plot level. An average R2 and RMSE value of 0.80 and 1.07 m respectively was obtained when comparing the tree height between TLS and field data. Our results confirm that terrestrial laser scanner can provide nondestructive, high-resolution, and precise determination of forest inventory for better decision making in sustainable forest management and assessing potential of forest fire hazards.

Where are the Black Walnut Tres in Iowa? 1996

Treesearch

J. Michael Vasievich; Neal P. Kingsley

1996-01-01

The third measurement of Iowa?s forests was completed in 1990 by the North Central Forest Experiment Station and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Brand and Walkowiak 1991). The inventory found that black walnut trees are common in the forests of Iowa. Two out of every hundred trees in the State are black walnuts. To accomplish the inventory, more than 12,769...

Using Forest Inventory and Analysis data to model plant-climate relationships

Treesearch

Nicholas L. Crookston; Gerald E. Rehfeldt; Marcus V. Warwell

2007-01-01

Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data from 11 Western conterminous States were used to (1) estimate and map the climatic profiles of tree species and (2) explore how to include climate variables in individual tree growth equations used in the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS). On the first front, we found the FIA data to be useful as training data in Breiman's...

Mapping trees outside forests using high-resolution aerial imagery: a comparison of pixel- and object-based classification approaches.

PubMed

Meneguzzo, Dacia M; Liknes, Greg C; Nelson, Mark D

2013-08-01

Discrete trees and small groups of trees in nonforest settings are considered an essential resource around the world and are collectively referred to as trees outside forests (ToF). ToF provide important functions across the landscape, such as protecting soil and water resources, providing wildlife habitat, and improving farmstead energy efficiency and aesthetics. Despite the significance of ToF, forest and other natural resource inventory programs and geospatial land cover datasets that are available at a national scale do not include comprehensive information regarding ToF in the United States. Additional ground-based data collection and acquisition of specialized imagery to inventory these resources are expensive alternatives. As a potential solution, we identified two remote sensing-based approaches that use free high-resolution aerial imagery from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) to map all tree cover in an agriculturally dominant landscape. We compared the results obtained using an unsupervised per-pixel classifier (independent component analysis-[ICA]) and an object-based image analysis (OBIA) procedure in Steele County, Minnesota, USA. Three types of accuracy assessments were used to evaluate how each method performed in terms of: (1) producing a county-level estimate of total tree-covered area, (2) correctly locating tree cover on the ground, and (3) how tree cover patch metrics computed from the classified outputs compared to those delineated by a human photo interpreter. Both approaches were found to be viable for mapping tree cover over a broad spatial extent and could serve to supplement ground-based inventory data. The ICA approach produced an estimate of total tree cover more similar to the photo-interpreted result, but the output from the OBIA method was more realistic in terms of describing the actual observed spatial pattern of tree cover.

Anomalous dismeter distribution shifts estimated from FIA inventories through time

Treesearch

Francis A. Roesch; Paul C. Van Deusen

2010-01-01

In the past decade, the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA) has replaced regionally autonomous, periodic, state-wide forest inventories using various probability proportional to tree size sampling designs with a nationally consistent annual forest inventory design utilizing systematically spaced clusters...

Wisconsin's forest statistics, 1987: an inventory update.

Treesearch

W. Brad Smith; Jerold T. Hahn

1989-01-01

The Wisconsin 1987 inventory update, derived by using tree growth models, reports 14.7 million acres of timberland, a decline of less than 1% since 1983. This bulletin presents findings from the inventory update in tables detailing timberland area, volume, and biomass.

A probability approach to sawtimber tree-value projections

Treesearch

Roger E. McCay; Paul S. DeBald; Paul S. DeBald

1973-01-01

The authors present a method for projecting hardwood sawtimber tree values, using tree-development probabilities based on continuous forest inventory (CFI) data and describe some ways to use the resulting value projections to assemble management-planning information.

Integrating LIDAR and forest inventories to fill the trees outside forests data gap.

PubMed

Johnson, Kristofer D; Birdsey, Richard; Cole, Jason; Swatantran, Anu; O'Neil-Dunne, Jarlath; Dubayah, Ralph; Lister, Andrew

2015-10-01

Forest inventories are commonly used to estimate total tree biomass of forest land even though they are not traditionally designed to measure biomass of trees outside forests (TOF). The consequence may be an inaccurate representation of all of the aboveground biomass, which propagates error to the outputs of spatial and process models that rely on the inventory data. An ideal approach to fill this data gap would be to integrate TOF measurements within a traditional forest inventory for a parsimonious estimate of total tree biomass. In this study, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data were used to predict biomass of TOF in all "nonforest" Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots in the state of Maryland. To validate the LIDAR-based biomass predictions, a field crew was sent to measure TOF on nonforest plots in three Maryland counties, revealing close agreement at both the plot and county scales between the two estimates. Total tree biomass in Maryland increased by 25.5 Tg, or 15.6%, when biomass of TOF were included. In two counties (Carroll and Howard), there was a 47% increase. In contrast, counties located further away from the interstate highway corridor showed only a modest increase in biomass when TOF were added because nonforest conditions were less common in those areas. The advantage of this approach for estimating biomass of TOF is that it is compatible with, and explicitly separates TOF biomass from, forest biomass already measured by FIA crews. By predicting biomass of TOF at actual FIA plots, this approach is directly compatible with traditionally reported FIA forest biomass, providing a framework for other states to follow, and should improve carbon reporting and modeling activities in Maryland.

Modifying Taper-Derived Merchantable Height Estimates to Account for Tree Characteristics

Treesearch

James A. Westfall

2006-01-01

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Northeastern Forest Inventory and Analysis program (NE-FIA) is developing regionwide tree-taper equations. Unlike most previous work on modeling tree form, this effort necessarily includes a wide array of tree species. For some species, branching patterns can produce undesirable tree form that reduces the merchantable...

Minnesota's forest statistics, 1987: an inventory update.

Treesearch

Jerold T. Hahn; W. Brad Smith

1987-01-01

The Minnesota 1987 inventory update, derived by using tree growth models, reports 13.5 million acres of timberland, a decline of less than 1% since 1977. This bulletin presents findings from the inventory update in tables detailing timer land area, volume, and biomass.

Searching for American chestnut: the estimation of rare species attributes in a national forest inventory

Treesearch

Francis A. Roesch; William H. McWilliams

2007-01-01

American chestnut, once a dominant tree species in forests of the Northeastern United States, has become extremely rare. It is so rare, in fact, that on completion of 80 percent of the plot measurements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service's most recent inventory in Pennsylvania, only 33 American chestnut trees with a diameter at breast height !Y 1...

Searching for American chestnut: the estimation of rare species attributes in a national forest inventory

Treesearch

Francis A. Roesch; William H. McWilliams

2005-01-01

American chestnut, once a dominant tree species in forests of the Northeastern United States, has become extremely rare. It is so rare, in fact, that on completion of 80 percent of the plot measurements of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service's most recent inventory in Pennsylvania, only 33 American chestnut trees with a diameter at breast height 2: 1...

LBA-ECO TG-07 Ground-based Biometry Data at km 83 Site, TapajosNational Forest: 1997

Treesearch

M.M. Keller; M.W. Palace

2009-01-01

A field inventory of trees was conducted in March of 1997 in a logging concession at the Tapajos National Forest, south of Santarem, Para, Brazil. The inventory was conducted by the foresters and technicians of the Tropical Forest Foundation (FFT) and included all trees with diameter at breast height greater than or equal to 35 cm. Four blocks of approximately 100 ha...

Guam's forest resources, 2002.

Treesearch

Joseph A. Donnegan; Sarah L. Butler; Walter Grabowiecki; Bruce A. Hiserote; David. Limtiaco

2004-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 46 forested plots on the island of Guam. Estimates of forest area, tree stem volume and biomass, the numbers of trees, tree damages, and the distribution of tree sizes were summarized for this statistical sample. Detailed tables and graphical highlights provide a summary of Guam...

A new tree classification system for southern hardwoods

Treesearch

James S. Meadows; Daniel A. Jr. Skojac

2008-01-01

A new tree classification system for southern hardwoods is described. The new system is based on the Putnam tree classification system, originally developed by Putnam et al., 1960, Management ond inventory of southern hardwoods, Agriculture Handbook 181, US For. Sew., Washington, DC, which consists of four tree classes: (1) preferred growing stock, (2) reserve growing...

Palau's forest resources, 2003.

Treesearch

Joseph A. Donnegan; Sarah L. Butler; Olaf Kuegler; Brent J. Stroud; Bruce A. Hiserote; Kashgar. Rengulbai

2007-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 54 forested plots on the islands in the Republic of Palau. Estimates of forest area, tree stem volume and biomass, the numbers of trees, tree damages, and the distribution of tree sizes were summarized for this statistical sample. Detailed tables and graphical highlights provide...

The role of pre-field operations at four forest inventory units: We can see the trees, not just the forest

Treesearch

Sara A. Goeking; Greg C. Liknes

2009-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program attempts to inventory all forested lands throughout the United States. Each of the four FIA units has developed a process to minimize inventory costs by refraining from visiting those plots in the national inventory grid that are undoubtedly nonforest. We refer to this process as pre-field operations. Until recently, the...

The use of aerial photographs and angle-gauge sampling of tree crown diameters for forest inventories

Treesearch

Lawrence R. Gering; Dennis M. May; Kurt B. Teuber

1990-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis unit of the Southern Forest Experiment Station is charged with conducting continuous inventories of the forest resources of the Midsouth.Techniques that offer innovative approaches for improving the efficiency of these inventories are in demand.One new approach for estimating the density of forest stands involves the derivation of a...

The hardwoods of California's timberlands, woodlands, and savannas.

Treesearch

Charles L. Bolsinger

1988-01-01

The results of a statewide inventory of California's hardwood resources are presented. This is the first comprehensive inventory with tree and stand measurements ever conducted in the extensive oak woodlands. In timberland areas where hardwoods had been previously inventoried, improved procedures and volume equations developed specifically for the major California...

Diameter Growth Models for Inventory Applications

Treesearch

Ronald E. McRoberts; Christopher W. Woodall; Veronica C. Lessard; Margaret R. Holdaway

2002-01-01

Distant-independent, individual-tree, diametar growth models were constructed to update information for forest inventory plots measured in previous years. The models are nonlinear in the parameters and were calibrated weighted nonlinear least squares techniques and forest inventory plot data. Analyses of residuals indicated that model predictions compare favorably to...

Tree biomass in the Swiss landscape: nationwide modelling for improved accounting for forest and non-forest trees.

PubMed

Price, B; Gomez, A; Mathys, L; Gardi, O; Schellenberger, A; Ginzler, C; Thürig, E

2017-03-01

Trees outside forest (TOF) can perform a variety of social, economic and ecological functions including carbon sequestration. However, detailed quantification of tree biomass is usually limited to forest areas. Taking advantage of structural information available from stereo aerial imagery and airborne laser scanning (ALS), this research models tree biomass using national forest inventory data and linear least-square regression and applies the model both inside and outside of forest to create a nationwide model for tree biomass (above ground and below ground). Validation of the tree biomass model against TOF data within settlement areas shows relatively low model performance (R 2 of 0.44) but still a considerable improvement on current biomass estimates used for greenhouse gas inventory and carbon accounting. We demonstrate an efficient and easily implementable approach to modelling tree biomass across a large heterogeneous nationwide area. The model offers significant opportunity for improved estimates on land use combination categories (CC) where tree biomass has either not been included or only roughly estimated until now. The ALS biomass model also offers the advantage of providing greater spatial resolution and greater within CC spatial variability compared to the current nationwide estimates.

Distribution of cavity trees in midwestern old-growth and second-growth forests

Treesearch

Zhaofei Fan; Stephen R. Shifley; Martin A. Spetich; Frank R. Thompson; David R. Larsen

2003-01-01

We used classification and regression tree analysis to determine the primary variables associated with the occurrence of cavity trees and the hierarchical structure among those variables. We applied that information to develop logistic models predicting cavity tree probability as a function of diameter, species group, and decay class. Inventories of cavity abundance in...

Distribution of cavity trees in midwesternold-growth and second-growth forests

Treesearch

Zhaofei Fan; Stephen R. Shifley; Martin A. Spetich; Frank R., III Thompson; David R. Larsen

2003-01-01

We used classification and regression tree analysis to determine the primary variables associated with the occurrence of cavity trees and the hierarchical structure among those variables. We applied that information to develop logistic models predicting cavity tree probability as a function of diameter, species group, and decay class. Inventories of cavity abundance in...

Street tree pruning and removal needs

Treesearch

David J. Nowak

1990-01-01

Street tree pruning and removal needs were examined for 11 species from inventory data collected in 11 cities in the North Central and Northeastern United States. The needs ranged from predominantly no pruning and routine pruning of small trees to safety pruning and removal of large trees. Species were ranked in terms of overall pruning and removal urgency, with London...

Million Trees Los Angeles: Carbon dioxide sink or source?

Treesearch

E.G. McPherson; A. Kendall; S. Albers

2015-01-01

This study seeks to answer the question, 'Will the Million Trees LA (MTLA) programme be a CO2 sink or source?' Using surveys, interviews, field sampling and computer simulation of tree growth and survival over a 40-year period, we developed the first process-based life cycle inventory of CO2 for a large tree...

Federated States of Micronesia's forest resources, 2006

Treesearch

Joseph A. Donnegan; Sarah L. Butler; Olaf Kuegler; Bruce A. Hiserote

2011-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 73 forested field plots on the islands of Kosrae, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). Estimates of forest area, tree stem volume and biomass, the numbers of trees, tree damages, and the distribution of tree sizes were summarized for this...

Differences in Computed Individual-Tree Volumes Caused by Differences in Field Measurements

Treesearch

James A. Westfall

2008-01-01

Individual-tree volumes are primarily predicted using volume equations that rely on measured tree attributes. In the northeastern United States, the Forest Inventory and Analysis program determines tree volume using dbh, bole height, proportion of cull, and species information. These measurements are subject to variability due to a host of factors. The sensitivity of...

Cabruca agroforests of southern Bahia Brazil: tree component, management, species conservation and sustainability

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In southern Bahia, cabruca is the agroforestry system in which cocoa is cultivated under the shade of sparse native forest trees. Aiming to characterize the tree component of this system and its management practices, we conducted an inventory of the non-cocoa trees in 16 ha of cabruca and do intervi...

Alabama, 2012 - forest inventory and analysis factsheet

Treesearch

Andrew J. Hartsell

2013-01-01

These early surveys were not concerned with the forests, species, and tree sizes that were not considered commercially viable. Early surveys reported only on growing-stock trees on timberlands, i.e. commercially important tree species and tree sizes on forests that could sustain harvest operations. Currently, FIA reports on all of the forest lands regardless of site...

An estimate of the number of tropical tree species

Treesearch

J. W. Ferry Slik; Victor Arroyo-Rodriguez; Shin-Ichiro and others Aiba

2015-01-01

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fishers alpha and an approximate pantropical stem...

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands' forest resources, 2004

Treesearch

Joseph A. Donnegan; Sarah L. Butler; Olaf Kuegler; Bruce A. Hiserote

2011-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 37 field plots on the islands of Rota, Tinian, and Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Estimates of forest area, tree stem volume and biomass, the numbers of trees, tree damages, and the distribution of tree sizes were summarized for this...

Species distribution models predict temporal but not spatial variation in forest growth.

PubMed

van der Maaten, Ernst; Hamann, Andreas; van der Maaten-Theunissen, Marieke; Bergsma, Aldo; Hengeveld, Geerten; van Lammeren, Ron; Mohren, Frits; Nabuurs, Gert-Jan; Terhürne, Renske; Sterck, Frank

2017-04-01

Bioclimate envelope models have been widely used to illustrate the discrepancy between current species distributions and their potential habitat under climate change. However, the realism and correct interpretation of such projections has been the subject of considerable discussion. Here, we investigate whether climate suitability predictions correlate to tree growth, measured in permanent inventory plots and inferred from tree-ring records. We use the ensemble classifier RandomForest and species occurrence data from ~200,000 inventory plots to build species distribution models for four important European forestry species: Norway spruce, Scots pine, European beech, and pedunculate oak. We then correlate climate-based habitat suitability with volume measurements from ~50-year-old stands, available from ~11,000 inventory plots. Secondly, habitat projections based on annual historical climate are compared with ring width from ~300 tree-ring chronologies. Our working hypothesis is that habitat suitability projections from species distribution models should to some degree be associated with temporal or spatial variation in these growth records. We find that the habitat projections are uncorrelated with spatial growth records (inventory plot data), but they do predict interannual variation in tree-ring width, with an average correlation of .22. Correlation coefficients for individual chronologies range from values as high as .82 or as low as -.31. We conclude that tree responses to projected climate change are highly site-specific and that local suitability of a species for reforestation is difficult to predict. That said, projected increase or decrease in climatic suitability may be interpreted as an average expectation of increased or reduced growth over larger geographic scales.

Citrus Inventory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1986-01-01

Florida's Charlotte County Property Appraiser is using an aerial color infrared mapping system for inventorying citrus trees for valuation purposes. The ACIR system has significantly reduced the time and manpower required for appraisal. Aerial photographs are taken and interpreted by a video system which makes it possible to detect changes from previous years. Potential problems can be identified. KSC's TU Office has awarded a contract to the Citrus Research and Education Center to adapt a prototype system which would automatically count trees and report totals.

Analysis of growth trend changes for 51 temperate tree species using Korea national forest inventory data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, M.; Moon, M.; Park, J.; Cho, S.; Kim, H. S.

2016-12-01

Individual tree growth rates can be affected by various factors such as species, soil fertility, stand development stage, disturbance, and climate etc. To estimate the effect of changes in tree growth rate on the structure and functionality of forest ecosystem in the future, we analyzed the change of species-specific growth trends using the fifth Korea national forest inventory data, which was collected from 2006 to 2010. The ring samples of average tree were collected from nationwide inventory plots and the total number of individual tree ring series was 69,128 covering 185 tree species. Among those, fifty one species with more than 100 tree ring series were used for our analysis. For growth-trend analysis, standardized regional curves of individual species growth were generated from three forest zone in South Korea; subarctic, cool temperate, warm temperate forest zone. Then individual tree ring series was indexed by dividing the growth of the tree by expected growth from standardized regional curves. Then the ratio of all tree ring series were aligned by year and the Spearman's correlation coefficient of each species was calculated. The results show that most of species had increasing growth rates as forests developed after Korean war. For the last thirty years, 67.3% of species including Quercus spp. and Zelkova serrata had positive growth trends, on the other hand, 11.5% of species including Pinus spp. showed negative growth trends probably due to the changes in successional stages in Korean forests and climate change. These trends also vary with climate zone and species. For examples, Pinus densiflora, which showed negative growth trend overall, had steep negative growth trends in boreal and temperate zone, whereas it showed no specific trend in sub-tropical climate zone. Our trend analysis on 51 temperate tree species growth will be essential to predict the temperate forests species change for the this century.

Forest inventory-based estimation of carbon stocks and flux in California forests in 1990.

Treesearch

Jeremy S. Fried; Xiaoping Zhou

2008-01-01

Estimates of forest carbon stores and flux for California circa 1990 were modeled from forest inventory data in support of California’s legislatively mandated greenhouse gas inventory. Reliable estimates of live-tree carbon stores and flux on timberlands outside of national forest could be calculated from periodic inventory data collected in the 1980s and 1990s;...

From Models to Measurements: Comparing Downed Dead Wood Carbon Stock Estimates in the U.S. Forest Inventory

Treesearch

Grant M. Domke; Christopher W. Woodall; Brian F. Walters; James E. Smith

2013-01-01

The inventory and monitoring of coarse woody debris (CWD) carbon (C) stocks is an essential component of any comprehensive National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NGHGI). Due to the expense and difficulty associated with conducting field inventories of CWD pools, CWD C stocks are often modeled as a function of more commonly measured stand attributes such as live tree C...

Patterns of thinking about phylogenetic trees: A study of student learning and the potential of tree thinking to improve comprehension of biological concepts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naegle, Erin

Evolution education is a critical yet challenging component of teaching and learning biology. There is frequently an emphasis on natural selection when teaching about evolution and conducting educational research. A full understanding of evolution, however, integrates evolutionary processes, such as natural selection, with the resulting evolutionary patterns, such as species divergence. Phylogenetic trees are models of evolutionary patterns. The perspective gained from understanding biology through phylogenetic analyses is referred to as tree thinking. Due to the increasing prevalence of tree thinking in biology, understanding how to read phylogenetic trees is an important skill for students to learn. Interpreting graphics is not an intuitive process, as graphical representations are semiotic objects. This is certainly true concerning phylogenetic tree interpretation. Previous research and anecdotal evidence report that students struggle to correctly interpret trees. The objective of this research was to describe and investigate the rationale underpinning the prior knowledge of introductory biology students' tree thinking Understanding prior knowledge is valuable as prior knowledge influences future learning. In Chapter 1, qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews were used to explore patterns of student rationale in regard to tree thinking. Seven common tree thinking misconceptions are described: (1) Equating the degree of trait similarity with the extent of relatedness, (2) Environmental change is a necessary prerequisite to evolution, (3) Essentialism of species, (4) Evolution is inherently progressive, (5) Evolution is a linear process, (6) Not all species are related, and (7) Trees portray evolution through the hybridization of species. These misconceptions are based in students' incomplete or incorrect understanding of evolution. These misconceptions are often reinforced by the misapplication of cultural conventions to make sense of trees. Chapter 2 explores the construction, validity, and reliability of a tree thinking concept inventory. Concept inventories are research based instruments that diagnose faulty reasoning among students. Such inventories are tools for improving teaching and learning of concepts. Test scores indicate that tree thinking misconceptions are held by novice and intermediate biology students. Finally, Chapter 3 presents a tree thinking rubric. The rubric aids teachers in selecting and improving introductory tree thinking learning exercises that address students' tree thinking misconceptions.

Abundance and Size Distribution of Cavity Trees in Second-Growth and Old-Growth Central Hardwood Forests

Treesearch

Zhaofei Fan; Stephen R. Shifley; Martin A. Spetich; Frank R. Thompson III; David R. Larsen

2005-01-01

In central hardwood forests, mean cavity-tree abundance increases with increasing standsize class (seedling/sapling, pole, sawtimber, old-growth). However, within a size class, the number of cavity trees is highly variable among 0.1-ha inventory plots. Plots in young stands are most likely to have no cavity trees, but some plots may have more than 50 cavity trees/ha....

Abundance and size distribution of cavity trees in second-growth and old-growth central hardwood forests

Treesearch

Zhaofei Fan; Stephen R. Shifley; Martin A. Spetich; Frank R. Thompson; David R. Larsen

2005-01-01

In central hardwood forests, mean cavity-tree abundance increases with increasing standsize class (seedling/sapling, pole, sawtimber, old-growth). However, within a size class, the number of cavity trees is highly variable among 0.1-ha inventory plots. Plots in young stands are most likely to have no cavity trees, but some plots may have more than 50 cavity trees/ha....

Forests of the Mountain State

Treesearch

Richard H. Widmann; Charles R. Dye; Gregory W. Cook

2007-01-01

A report on the forest inventory of West Virginia conducted in 1999-2001 by the Forest Inventory and Analysis unit of the Northeastern Research Station. Discusses the current condition and changes from previous inventories for forest area, timber volume, tree species, mortality and growth and removals. Graphics depict data at the state level and by county where...

Forests of the Garden State

Treesearch

Richard H. Widmann

2005-01-01

A report on the fourth forest inventory of New Jersey conducted in 1998-99 by the Forest Inventory and Analysis unit of the Northeastern Research Station. Discusses the current condition and changes from previous inventories for forest area, timber volume, tree species, and growth and removals. Graphics depict data at the state level and by county where appropriate...

Estimating cavity tree abundance using nearest neighbor imputation methods for western Oregon and Washington forests

Treesearch

Hailemariam Temesgen; Tara M. Barrett; Greg Latta

2008-01-01

Cavity trees contribute to diverse forest structure and wildlife habitat. For a given stand, the size and density of cavity trees indicate its diversity, complexity, and suitability for wildlife habitat. Size and density of cavity trees vary with stand age, density, and structure. Using Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data collected in western Oregon and western...

Attributes of standing dead trees in forests of the United States

Treesearch

Christopher W. Woodall; James E. Smith; Patrick D. Miles

2009-01-01

Standing dead trees in forests of the United States serve as wildlife habitat, a fuel loading component, and carbon stocks. Although standing dead trees are a vital component of forest ecosystems, information regarding this resource across the Nation is lacking. The first annual inventory of standing dead trees across the United States was initiated in 1999, resulting...

The zero inflation of standing dead tree carbon stocks

Treesearch

Christopher W. Woodall; David W. MacFarlane

2012-01-01

Given the importance of standing dead trees in numerous forest ecosystem attributes/processes such as carbon (C) stocks, the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program began consistent nationwide sampling of standing dead trees in 1999. Modeled estimates of standing dead tree C stocks are currently used as the official C stock estimates for the...

Imputation of individual longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) tree attributes from field and LiDAR data

Treesearch

Carlos A. Silva; Andrew T. Hudak; Lee A. Vierling; E. Louise Loudermilk; Joseph J. O' Brien; J. Kevin Hiers; Steve B. Jack; Carlos Gonzalez-Benecke; Heezin Lee; Michael J. Falkowski; Anahita Khosravipour

2016-01-01

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has demonstrated potential for forest inventory at the individual-tree level. The aim in this study was to predict individual-tree height (Ht; m), basal area (BA; m2), and stem volume (V; m3...

Chapter 7 - Crown condition

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph

2018-01-01

Tree crown conditions are visually assessed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program as an indicator of forest health. These assessments are useful because individual tree photosynthetic capacity is dependent upon the size and condition of the crown. In general, trees with full, vigorous crowns are associated...

American Samoa's forest resources, 2001.

Treesearch

Joseph A. Donnegan; Sheri S. Mann; Sarah L. Butler; Bruce A. Hiserote

2004-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program of the Pacific Northwest Research Station collected, analyzed, and summarized data from field plots, and mapped land cover on four islands in American Samoa. This statistical sample provides estimates of forest area, stem volume, biomass, numbers of trees, damages to trees, and tree size distribution. The summary provides...

Preliminary Results of Double-Sample Forest Inventory of Pine and Mixed Stands with High- and Low-Density LiDAR

Treesearch

Robert C. Parker; Patrick A. Glass

2004-01-01

LiDAR data (0.5 and 1 m postings) were used in a double-sample forest inventory on the Lee Experimental Forest, Louisiana. Phase 2 plots were established with DGPS. Tree d.b.h. (> 4.5 inches) and two sample heights were measured on every 10 th plot of the Phase 1 sample. Volume was computed for natural and planted pine and mixed hardwood species. LiDAR trees were...

Forest biomass and energy-wood potential in the southern United States

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Saucier, J.R.

1993-12-31

Timber resource data were compiled from the most recent USDA Forest Service inventory data for the 12 Southern States from Virginia to Texas. Timber resource inventories traditionally include only trees 5 inches dbh and greater and their volumes to the prevailing merchantable top diameter expressed in cubic feet, board feet, or cords. For this paper, conversion factors were developed to express timber inventories in weight and to expand the inventories to include the crowns of merchantable trees and trees less than 5 inches dbh. By so doing, the total aboveground biomass is estimated for the timberlands in the South. Themore » region contains 185 million acres of timberland. Some 14.6 billion green tons of woody biomass are present on southern timberland -- about 79 tons per acre. When mature stands are harvested, the average acre in the South has 22.2 tons of woody material left in crowns and sapling, and 5.1 tons in cull stems. Thus, an average of 27.3 green tons per acre of potential energy wood are left after conventional harvests. Conversion factors that are presented permit estimates for specific tracts, areas, counties, or states.« less

Stocking, Forest Type, and Stand Size Class - The Southern Forest Inventory and Analysis Unit's Calculation of Three Important Stand Descriptors

Treesearch

Dennis M. May

1990-01-01

The procedures by which the Southern Forest Inventory and Analysis unit calculates stocking from tree data collected on inventory sample plots are described in this report. Stocking is then used to ascertain two other important stand descriptors: forest type and stand size class. Inventory data for three plots from the recently completed 1989 Tennessee survey are used...

Imputing forest carbon stock estimates from inventory plots to a nationally continuous coverage

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The U.S. has been providing national-scale estimates of forest carbon (C) stocks and stock change to meet United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) reporting requirements for years. Although these currently are provided as national estimates by pool and year to meet greenhouse gas monitoring requirements, there is growing need to disaggregate these estimates to finer scales to enable strategic forest management and monitoring activities focused on various ecosystem services such as C storage enhancement. Through application of a nearest-neighbor imputation approach, spatially extant estimates of forest C density were developed for the conterminous U.S. using the U.S.’s annual forest inventory. Results suggest that an existing forest inventory plot imputation approach can be readily modified to provide raster maps of C density across a range of pools (e.g., live tree to soil organic carbon) and spatial scales (e.g., sub-county to biome). Comparisons among imputed maps indicate strong regional differences across C pools. The C density of pools closely related to detrital input (e.g., dead wood) is often highest in forests suffering from recent mortality events such as those in the northern Rocky Mountains (e.g., beetle infestations). In contrast, live tree carbon density is often highest on the highest quality forest sites such as those found in the Pacific Northwest. Validation results suggest strong agreement between the estimates produced from the forest inventory plots and those from the imputed maps, particularly when the C pool is closely associated with the imputation model (e.g., aboveground live biomass and live tree basal area), with weaker agreement for detrital pools (e.g., standing dead trees). Forest inventory imputed plot maps provide an efficient and flexible approach to monitoring diverse C pools at national (e.g., UNFCCC) and regional scales (e.g., Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation projects) while allowing timely incorporation of empirical data (e.g., annual forest inventory). PMID:23305341

Estimating root collar diameter growth for multi-stem western woodland tree species on remeasured forest inventory and analysis plots

Treesearch

Michael T. Thompson; Maggie. Toone

2012-01-01

Tree diameter growth models are widely used in many forestry applications, often to predict tree size at a future point in time. Also, there are instances where projections of past diameters are needed. An individual tree model has been developed to estimate diameter growth of multi-stem woodland tree species where the diameter is measured at root collar. The model was...

[Estimation of vegetation carbon storage and density of forests at tree layer in Tibet, China.

PubMed

Liu, Shu Qin; Xia, Chao Zong; Feng, Wei; Zhang, Ke Bin; Ma, Li; Liu, Jian Kang

2017-10-01

The estimation of vegetation carbon storage and density of forests at tree layer in Tibet Autonomous Region was calculated based on the eighth forest inventory data using the biomass inventory method, as well as other attributes like tree trunk density and carbon content of different species. The results showed that the total carbon storage at tree layer in Tibet forest ecosystem was 1.067×10 9 t and the average carbon density was 72.49 t·hm -2 . The carbon storage at tree layer of different stands was in the order of arbor forest > scattered wood > sparse forest > alluvial tree. The carbon storage of different forest types at tree layer were in the order of shelterbelt > special purpose forest > timber forest > firewood forest. The proportion of the first mentioned two was 88.5%, and the average carbon density of different forest types at tree layer was 88.09 t·hm -2 . The carbon sto-rage and its distribution area at tree layer in different forest groups were in the same order, followed by mature forest > over mature forest > near mature forest > middle aged forest > young forest. The carbon storage in mature forests accounted for 50% of the total carbon storage at tree layer in diffe-rent forest groups. The carbon storage at tree layer in different forest groups increased first and then decreased with the increase of stand ages.

Indigenous Community Tree Inventory: Assessment of Data Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fauzi, M. F.; Idris, N. H.; Din, A. H. M.; Osman, M. J.; Idris, N. H.; Ishak, M. H. I.

2016-09-01

The citizen science program to supplement authoritative data in tree inventory has been well implemented in various countries. However, there is a lack of study that assesses correctness and accuracy of tree data supplied by citizens. This paper addresses the issue of tree data quality supplied by semi-literate indigenous group. The aim of this paper is to assess the correctness of attributes (tree species name, height and diameter at breast height) and the accuracy of tree horizontal positioning data supplied by indigenous people. The accuracy of the tree horizontal position recorded by GNSS-enable smart phone was found to have a RMSE value of ± 8m which is not suitable to accurately locate individual tree position in tropical rainforest such as the Royal Belum State Park. Consequently, the tree species names contributed by indigenous people were only 20 to 30 percent correct as compared with the reference data. However, the combination of indigenous respondents comprising of different ages, experience and knowledge working in a group influence less attribute error in data entry and increase the use of free text rather than audio methods. The indigenous community has a big potential to engage with scientific study due to their local knowledge with the research area, however intensive training must be given to empower their skills and several challenges need to be addressed.

A technique for conducting point pattern analysis of cluster plot stem-maps

Treesearch

C.W. Woodall; J.M. Graham

2004-01-01

Point pattern analysis of forest inventory stem-maps may aid interpretation and inventory estimation of forest attributes. To evaluate the techniques and benefits of conducting point pattern analysis of forest inventory stem-maps, Ripley`s K(t) was calculated for simulated tree spatial distributions and for over 600 USDA Forest Service Forest...

Increased uniformity by planting clones will likely have a minimal effect on inventory costs

Treesearch

Curtis L. VanderSchaaf; Dean W. Coble; David B. South

2012-01-01

When conducting inventories, reducing variability among tree diameters, heights, and ultimately volumes or biomass, can reduce the number of points/plots needed to obtain a desired level of precision. We present a simple analysis examining the potential reduction in discounted inventory costs when stand variability is decreased (via improved genetics and intensive...

An inventory of trees in Dublin city centre.

PubMed

Ningal, Tine; Mills, Gerald; Smithwick, Pamela

2010-01-01

While urban areas are often considered to be comprised chiefly of artificial surfaces, they can contain a substantial portion of green space and a great diversity of natural habitats. These spaces include public parks, private gardens and street trees, all of which can provide valuable environmental services, such as improved air quality. Trees play a particular role in cities as they are often placed along roadsides and in the median strip of busy streets. As such they regulate access to sunshine, restrict airflow, provide shelter, scavenge air pollutants and manage noise at the street level. A tree planting policy can be an important part of a broader environmental strategy aimed at improving the quality of life in urban areas but this requires up-to-date knowledge of the current tree stock, which does not exist for Dublin. This article presents an inventory of trees in Dublin's city centre, defined as the area between the Grand and Royal canals. The results show that there are over 10,000 trees in the study area representing a density of 684 trees km-2 or one tree to approximately every 50 residents of the city centre. The tree canopy extent when in full foliage was nearly 1 km2 in extent or 6% of the study area. A more detailed analysis of those trees planted along streets shows little species variation but clear distinction in the sizes of trees, which is indicative of the age of planting. These data are used to estimate the carbon stored in Dublin's trees.

Uncertainty of large-area estimates of indicators of forest structural gamma diversity: A study based on national forest inventory data

Treesearch

Susanne Winter; Andreas Böck; Ronald E. McRoberts

2012-01-01

Tree diameter and height are commonly measured forest structural variables, and indicators based on them are candidates for assessing forest diversity. We conducted our study on the uncertainty of estimates for mostly large geographic scales for four indicators of forest structural gamma diversity: mean tree diameter, mean tree height, and standard deviations of tree...

A life cycle carbon dioxide inventory of the Million Trees Los Angeles Program

Treesearch

E. Gregory McPherson; Alissa Kendall

2014-01-01

PurposeThis study seeks to answer the question, “Will the Million Trees LA (Million Trees Los Angeles, MTLA) program be a carbon dioxide (CO2) sink or source?” Because there has never been a full accounting of CO2 emissions, it is unclear if urban tree planting initiatives (TPIs) are likely to be...

Relationships between the attributes of standing live and dead down trees in forests of the Lake States

Treesearch

Christopher W. Woodall; Linda Nagel

2007-01-01

Refining the understanding of the relationship between a stand's standing live and down dead trees in terms of size, density, and biomass attributes may aid efforts to predict fuel loadings based on standing tree attributes. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare down dead and standing live tree attributes (size, density, and biomass) for inventory...

Trends over time in tree and seedling phylogenetic diversity indicate regional differences in forest biodiversity change

Treesearch

Kevin M. Potter; Christopher W. Woodall

2012-01-01

Changing climate conditions may impact the short-term ability of forest tree species to regenerate in many locations. In the longer term, tree species may be unable to persist in some locations while they become established in new places. Over both time frames, forest tree biodiversity may change in unexpected ways. Using repeated inventory measurements five years...

Structure, function and value of street trees in California, USA

Treesearch

E. Gregory McPherson; Natalie van Doorn; John de Goede

2016-01-01

This study compiled recent inventory data from 929,823 street trees in 50 cities to determine trends in tree number and density, identify priority investments and create baseline data against which the efficacy of future practices can be evaluated. The number of street trees increased from 5.9 million in 1988 to 9.1 million in 2014, about one for every four residents....

A nearest-neighbor imputation approach to mapping tree species over large areas using forest inventory plots and moderate resolution raster data

Treesearch

B. Tyler Wilson; Andrew J. Lister; Rachel I. Riemann

2012-01-01

The paper describes an efficient approach for mapping multiple individual tree species over large spatial domains. The method integrates vegetation phenology derived from MODIS imagery and raster data describing relevant environmental parameters with extensive field plot data of tree species basal area to create maps of tree species abundance and distribution at a 250-...

A diameter growth model for the SRS FIA

Treesearch

David Gartner

2015-01-01

Changes in the national Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) processing system required the Southern Research Station’s FIA unit to create a diameter growth model to estimate the growth of trees that could not be measured at both ends of a measurement interval. Examples of such trees are trees that have died or been harvested, and trees that grow over the minimum...

Tree crown conditions in Missouri, 2000-2003

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph; W. Keith Moser

2009-01-01

The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program uses visual assessments of tree crown condition to monitor changes and trends in forest health. This report describes three FIA tree crown condition indicators (crown dieback, crown density, and foliage transparency) and sapling crown vigor measured in Missouri between 2000...

Inventorying trees in agricultural landscapes: towards an accounting of working trees

Treesearch

C. H. Perry; C. W. Woodall; M.M. Schoeneberger

2005-01-01

Agroforestry plantings and other trees intentionally established in rural and urban areas are emerging as innovative management options for addressing resource issues and achieving landscape-level goals. An understanding of the contributions from these and future plantings would provide critical information to policy and program developers, and a comprehensive...

Data quality in citizen science urban tree inventories

Treesearch

Lara A. Roman; Bryant C. Scharenbroch; Johan P.A. Ostberg; Lee S. Mueller; Jason G. Henning; Andrew K. Koeser; Jessica R. Sanders; Daniel R. Betz; Rebecca C. Jordan

2017-01-01

Citizen science has been gaining popularity in ecological research and resource management in general and in urban forestry specifically. As municipalities and nonprofits engage volunteers in tree data collection, it is critical to understand data quality. We investigated observation error by comparing street tree data collected by experts to data collected by less...

Estimating white trunk rot in aspen stands

Treesearch

Alan C. Jones; Michael E. Ostry

1998-01-01

Advanced decay caused by Phellinus tremulae was estimated in 295 trembling aspen on 30 plots in 2 Minnesota counties using existing inventory guides, and then measured by felling and sectioning the trees. In standing trees, decay volume was underestimated by 38% compared to measured decay volume in felled trees. The most reliable external indicator...

Influence of tree spatial pattern and sample plot type and size on inventory

Treesearch

John-Pascall Berrill; Kevin L. O' Hara

2012-01-01

Sampling with different plot types and sizes was simulated using tree location maps and data collected in three even-aged coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) stands selected to represent uniform, random, and clumped spatial patterns of tree locations. Fixed-radius circular plots, belt transects, and variable-radius plots were installed by...

Tree cavity estimation and verification in the Missouri Ozarks

Treesearch

Randy G. Jensen; John M. Kabrick; Eric K. Zenner

2002-01-01

Missouri forest management guidelines require that cavity trees and snags be provided for wildlife. Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP) timber inventories provided opportunities to determine if cavity tree and snag densities in a mature second-growth oak-hickory-pine forest meet forest management guidelines, to evaluate the effects of the first-entry...

A Structured Light Sensor System for Tree Inventory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chien, Chiun-Hong; Zemek, Michael C.

2000-01-01

Tree Inventory is referred to measurement and estimation of marketable wood volume in a piece of land or forest for purposes such as investment or for loan applications. Exist techniques rely on trained surveyor conducting measurements manually using simple optical or mechanical devices, and hence are time consuming subjective and error prone. The advance of computer vision techniques makes it possible to conduct automatic measurements that are more efficient, objective and reliable. This paper describes 3D measurements of tree diameters using a uniquely designed ensemble of two line laser emitters rigidly mounted on a video camera. The proposed laser camera system relies on a fixed distance between two parallel laser planes and projections of laser lines to calculate tree diameters. Performance of the laser camera system is further enhanced by fusion of information induced from structured lighting and that contained in video images. Comparison will be made between the laser camera sensor system and a stereo vision system previously developed for measurements of tree diameters.

Estimating potential emerald ash borer (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) populations using ash inventory data.

PubMed

McCullough, Deborah G; Siegert, Nathan W

2007-10-01

Emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), a phloem-feeding pest native to Asia, was identified in June 2002 as the cause of widespread ash (Fraxinus spp.), mortality in southeastern Michigan and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Localized populations of A. planipennis have since been found across lower Michigan and in areas of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, and Ontario. Officials working to contain A. planipennis and managers of forestlands near A. planipennis infestations must be able to compare alternative strategies to allocate limited funds efficiently and effectively. Empirical data from a total of 148 green ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh., and white ash, Fraxinus americana L., trees were used to develop models to estimate surface area of the trunk and branches by using tree diameter at breast height (dbh). Data collected from 71 additional F. pennsylvanica and F. americana trees killed by A. planipennis showed that on average, 88.9 +/- 4.6 beetles developed and emerged per m2 of surface area. Models were applied to ash inventory data collected at two outlier sites to estimate potential production of A. planipennis beetles at each site. Large trees of merchantable size (dbh > or = 26 cm) accounted for roughly 6% of all ash trees at the two sites, but they could have contributed 55-65% of the total A. planipennis production at both sites. In contrast, 75- 80% of the ash trees at the outlier sites were < or =13 cm dbh, but these small trees could have contributed only < or =12% of the potential A. planipennis production at both sites. Our results, in combination with inventory data, can be used by regulatory officials and resource managers to estimate potential A. planipennis production and to compare options for reducing A. planipennis density and slowing the rate of spread for any area of interest.

Tree range expansion in eastern North America fails to keep pace with climate warming at northern range limits.

PubMed

Sittaro, Fabian; Paquette, Alain; Messier, Christian; Nock, Charles A

2017-08-01

Rising global temperatures are suggested to be drivers of shifts in tree species ranges. The resulting changes in community composition may negatively impact forest ecosystem function. However, long-term shifts in tree species ranges remain poorly documented. We test for shifts in the northern range limits of 16 temperate tree species in Quebec, Canada, using forest inventory data spanning three decades, 15° of longitude and 7° of latitude. Range shifts were correlated with climate warming and dispersal traits to understand potential mechanisms underlying changes. Shifts were calculated as the change in the 95th percentile of latitudinal occurrence between two inventory periods (1970-1978, 2000-2012) and for two life stages: saplings and adults. We also examined sapling and adult range offsets within each inventory, and changes in the offset through time. Tree species ranges shifted predominantly northward, although species responses varied. As expected shifts were greater for tree saplings, 0.34 km yr -1 , than for adults, 0.13 km yr -1 . Range limits were generally further north for adults compared to saplings, but the difference diminished through time, consistent with patterns observed for range shifts within each life stage. This suggests caution should be exercised when interpreting geographic range offsets between life stages as evidence of range shifts in the absence of temporal data. Species latitudinal velocities were on average <50% of the velocity required to equal the spatial velocity of climate change and were mostly unrelated to dispersal traits. Finally, our results add to the body of evidence suggesting tree species are mostly limited in their capacity to track climate warming, supporting concerns that warming will negatively impact the functioning of forest ecosystems. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The improvement of precision for estimating the abundance of standing dead trees using auxiliary information under the FIA pot design

Treesearch

Hong Su An; David W. MacFarlane; Christopher W. Woodall

2012-01-01

Standing dead trees are an important component of forest ecosystems. However, reliable estimates of standing dead tree population parameters can be difficult to obtain due to their low abundance and spatial and temporal variation. After 1999, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program began collecting data for standing dead trees at the Phase 2 stage of sampling....

New Method for Determining the Relative Stand Density of Forest Inventory Plots

Treesearch

Christopher W. Woodall; Patrick D. Miles

2006-01-01

Determining the relative density of Forest Inventory and Analysis plots is complicated by the various species and tree size combinations in the Nation?s forested ecosystems. Stand density index (SDI), although developed for use in even-aged monocultures, has been used for stand density assessment in largescale forest inventories. To improve application of SDI in uneven...

FIA Quality Assurance Program: Evaluation of a Tree Matching Algorithm for Paired Forest Inventory Data

Treesearch

James E. Pollard; James A. Westfall; Paul A. Patterson; David L. Gartner

2005-01-01

The quality of Forest Inventory and Analysis inventory data can be documented by having quality assurance crews remeasure plots originally measured by field crews within 2 to 3 weeks of the initial measurement, and assessing the difference between the original and remeasured data. Estimates of measurement uncertainty for the data are generated using paired data...

Use of USDA forest inventory and analysis data to assess oak tree health in Minnesota

Treesearch

Kathryn W. Kromroy; Jennifer Juzwik; Paul D. Castillo

2003-01-01

As a precursor to a regional assessment for the Upper Midwest, three variables were examined as measures of oak health in Minnesota between 1974 and 1990 using USDA Forest Service Inventory and Analysis data. Mortality was 6 percent in the 1986-1990 inventory based on numbers of dead oaks per total oaks on plots with...

Statistics and quality assurance for the Northern Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, 2016

Treesearch

Dale D. Gormanson; Scott A. Pugh; Charles J. Barnett; Patrick D. Miles; Randall S. Morin; Paul A. Sowers; Jim Westfall

2017-01-01

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program collects sample plot data on all forest ownerships across the United States. FIA's primary objective is to determine the extent, condition, volume, growth, and use of trees on the Nation's forest land through a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the Nation's forest resources. The...

Building generalized tree mass/volume component models for improved estimation of forest stocks and utilization potential

Treesearch

David W. MacFarlane

2015-01-01

Accurately assessing forest biomass potential is contingent upon having accurate tree biomass models to translate data from forest inventories. Building generality into these models is especially important when they are to be applied over large spatial domains, such as regional, national and international scales. Here, new, generalized whole-tree mass / volume...

A rigorous assessment of tree height measurements obtained using airborne LIDAR and conventional field methods.

Treesearch

Hans-Erik Andersen; Stephen E. Reutebuch; Robert J. McGaughey

2006-01-01

Tree height is an important variable in forest inventory programs but is typically time-consuming and costly to measure in the field using conventional techniques. Airborne light detection and ranging (LIDAR) provides individual tree height measurements that are highly correlated with field-derived measurements, but the imprecision of conventional field techniques does...

Optimal tree increment models for the Northeastern United Statesq

Treesearch

Don C. Bragg

2003-01-01

used the potential relative increment (PRI) methodology to develop optimal tree diameter growth models for the Northeastern United States. Thirty species from the Eastwide Forest Inventory Database yielded 69,676 individuals, which were then reduced to fast-growing subsets for PRI analysis. For instance, only 14 individuals from the greater than 6,300-tree eastern...

Optimal Tree Increment Models for the Northeastern United States

Treesearch

Don C. Bragg

2005-01-01

I used the potential relative increment (PRI) methodology to develop optimal tree diameter growth models for the Northeastern United States. Thirty species from the Eastwide Forest Inventory Database yielded 69,676 individuals, which were then reduced to fast-growing subsets for PRI analysis. For instance, only 14 individuals from the greater than 6,300-tree eastern...

Descriptive statistics of tree crown condition in California, Oregon, and Washington

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph; Sally J. Campbell; Glenn Christensen

2010-01-01

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program uses visual assessments of tree crown condition to monitor changes and trends in forest health. This report describes four tree crown condition indicators (crown dieback, crown density, foliage transparency, and sapling crown vigor) measured in California, Oregon, and Washington between 1996 and 1999....

Alabama, 2010 forest inventory and analysis factsheet

Treesearch

Andrew J. Hartsell

2011-01-01

FIA was initially established to monitor the Nation’s timber supply and the amount of commercially available resources. These early surveys were not concerned with the forests, species, and tree sizes that were not considered commercially viable. Early FIA reported only on growing-stock trees on timberlands, i.e., commercially important tree species and sizes on...

Diameter Growth, Survival, and Volume Estimates for Missouri Trees

Treesearch

Stephen R. Shifley; W. Brad Smith

1982-01-01

Measurements of more than 20,000 Missouri trees were summarized by species and diameter class into tables of mean annual diameter growth, annual probability of survival, net cubic foot volume, and net board foot volume. In the absence of better forecasting techniques, this information can be utilized to project short-term changes for Missouri trees, inventory plots,...

Do trees fall downhill? Relationship between treefall direction and slope-aspect and wind in eight old-growth oak stands in the central hardwood forest

Treesearch

James S. Rentch

2011-01-01

This study examined the relationship between direction of treefall and slope-aspect, and prevailing wind in eight old-growth stands where single-tree canopy gaps characterize the dominant disturbance regime. All live and downed trees were inventoried in 0.45-ha sample plots. To determine crown asymmetry, crown sizes of live trees were measured along two perpendicular...

Volume equations for the Northern Research Station's Forest Inventory and Analysis Program as of 2010

Treesearch

Patrick D. Miles; Andrew D. Hill

2010-01-01

The U.S. Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program collects sample plot data on all forest ownerships across the United States. This report documents the methodology used to estimate live-tree gross, net, and sound volume for the 24 States inventoried by the Northern Research Station's (NRS) FIA unit. Sound volume is of particular interest...

Estimates of live-tree carbon stores in the Pacific Northwest are sensitive to model selection

Treesearch

Susanna L. Melson; Mark E. Harmon; Jeremy S. Fried; James B. Domingo

2011-01-01

Estimates of live-tree carbon stores are influenced by numerous uncertainties. One of them is model-selection uncertainty: one has to choose among multiple empirical equations and conversion factors that can be plausibly justified as locally applicable to calculate the carbon store from inventory measurements such as tree height and diameter at breast height (DBH)....

Relating FIA data to habitat classifications via tree-based models of canopy cover

Treesearch

Mark D. Nelson; Brian G. Tavernia; Chris Toney; Brian F. Walters

2012-01-01

Wildlife species-habitat matrices are used to relate lists of species with abundance of their habitats. The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program provides data on forest composition and structure, but these attributes may not correspond directly with definitions of wildlife habitats. We used FIA tree data and tree crown diameter models to estimate canopy cover, from...

Role of sprouts in regeneration of a whole-tree clearcut in central hardwoods of Connecticut

Treesearch

C.W. Martin; L.M. Tritton

1991-01-01

Stump sprouts were the single most important type of regeneration in a central hardwood forest in Connecticut during the first 5 years after whole-tree clearcuttting. Herbs, shrubs, tree seedlings, and stump sprouts were inventoried using stratified permanent plots on a 6-ha watershed during the first, third, and fifth years after harvest.

Forest composition of Maine: an analysis using number of trees

Treesearch

Douglas S. Powell

1985-01-01

Number-of-trees data compiled by the USDA Forest Service from three periodic statewide inventories of Maine's forest resources are used to analyze the composition of the state's timberland in terms of species, tree class, and size. Conditions are compared and contrasted for periods from 1959 to 1971 to 1982 across different regions and counties of the state....

Assessing the stability of tree ranges and influence of disturbance in eastern US forests

Treesearch

C.W. Woodall; K. Zhu; J.A. Westfall; C.M. Oswalt; A.W. D' Amato; B.F. Walters; H.E. Lintz

2013-01-01

Shifts in tree species ranges may occur due to global climate change, which in turn may be exacerbated by natural disturbance events. Within the context of global climate change, developing techniques to monitor tree range dynamics as affected by natural disturbances may enable mitigation/adaptation of projected impacts. Using a forest inventory across the eastern U.S...

Assessing canopy cover over streets and sidewalks in street tree populations

Treesearch

S.E. Maco; E.G. McPherson

2002-01-01

Total canopy cover and canopy cover over street and sidewalk surfaces were estimated for street trees in Davis, California, U.S. Calculations were made using simple trigonometric equations based on the results of a sample inventory. Canopy cover from public trees over streets and sidewalks varied between 4% and 46% by city zone, averaging 14% citywide. Consideration of...

A comparison of tree crown condition in areas with and without gypsy moth activity

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph

2005-01-01

This study compared the crown condition of trees within and outside areas of gypsy moth defoliation in Virginia via hypothesis tests of mean differences for five U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis phase 3 crown condition indicators. Significant differences were found between the trees located within and outside gypsy moth...

A comparison of tree crown condition in areas with and without gypsy moth activity

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph

2007-01-01

This study compared the crown condition of trees within and outside areas of gypsy moth defoliation in Virginia via hypothesis tests of mean differences for five U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis phase 3 crown condition indicators. Significant differences were found between the trees located within and outside gypsy moth...

Aboveground tree biomass statistics for Maine: 1982

Treesearch

Eric H. Wharton; Thomas S. Frieswyk; Anne M. Malley

1985-01-01

Traditional measures of volume inadequately describe the total aboveground wood resource. The 1980-82 inventory of Maine included estimates of aboveground tree biomass on timberland. There are nearly 1,504.4 million green tons of wood and bark in all trees above the ground level, or 88.2 green tons per acre of timberland. Most of the biomass is in growing stock, but 49...

Mapping forest vegetation for the western United States using modified random forests imputation of FIA forest plots

Treesearch

Karin Riley; Isaac C. Grenfell; Mark A. Finney

2016-01-01

Maps of the number, size, and species of trees in forests across the western United States are desirable for many applications such as estimating terrestrial carbon resources, predicting tree mortality following wildfires, and for forest inventory. However, detailed mapping of trees for large areas is not feasible with current technologies, but statistical...

Descriptive statistics of tree crown condition in the Southern United States and impacts on data analysis and interpretation

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph

2006-01-01

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA) utilizes visual assessments of tree crown condition to monitor changes and trends in forest health. This report describes and discusses distributions of three FIA crown condition indicators (crown density, crown dieback, and foliage transparency) for trees in the Southern...

Butt-log grade distributions for five Appalachian hardwood species

Treesearch

John R. Myers; Gary W. Miller; Harry V., Jr. Wiant; Joseph E. Barnard; Joseph E. Barnard

1986-01-01

Tree quality is an important factor in determining the market value of hardwood timber stands, but many forest inventories do not include estimates of tree quality. Butt-log grade distributions were developed for northern red oak, black oak, white oak, chestnut oak, and yellow-poplar using USDA Forest Service log grades on more than 4,700 trees in West Virginia. Butt-...

Project CAPTURE: using forest inventory and analysis data to prioritize tree species for conservation, management, and restoration

Treesearch

Kevin M. Potter; Barbara S. Crane; William W. Hargrove

2015-01-01

A variety of threats, most importantly climate change and insect and disease infestation, will increase the likelihood that forest tree species could experience population-level extirpation or species-level extinction during the next century. Project CAPTURE (Conservation Assessment and Prioritization of Forest Trees Under Risk of Extirpation) is a cooperative effort...

An inventory of multipurpose avenue trees of urban Chandigarh, India

Treesearch

R. K. Kohli; H. P. Singh; Daizy R. Batish

2000-01-01

Trees in urban ecosystems play a very significant role in environmental protection by checking air and noise pollutants, abating wind, and handling many other functions, in India, Chandigarh is the most modern and environmentally safe city and qualifies to be called a GREEN CITY because of its rich tree component. This is so in spite of its high population density,...

An indicator of tree migration in forests of the eastern United States

Treesearch

C.W. Woodall; C.M. Oswalt; J.A. Westfall; C.H. Perry; M.D. Nelson; A.O. Finley

2009-01-01

Changes in tree species distributions are a potential impact of climate change on forest ecosystems. The examination of tree species shifts in forests of the eastern United States largely has been limited to simulation activities due to a lack of consistent, long-term forest inventory datasets. The goal of this study was to compare current geographic distributions of...

Accuracy assessment of the vegetation continuous field tree cover product using 3954 ground plots in the southwestern USA

Treesearch

M. A. White; J. D. Shaw; R. D. Ramsey

2005-01-01

An accuracy assessment of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) vegetation continuous field (VCF) tree cover product using two independent ground-based tree cover databases was conducted. Ground data included 1176 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots for Arizona and 2778 Southwest Regional GAP (SWReGAP) plots for Utah and western Colorado....

California's western juniper and pinyon-juniper woodlands: area, stand characteristics, wood volume, and fenceposts.

Treesearch

Charles L. Bolsinger

1989-01-01

The results of a statewide inventory of western juniper and pinyon-juniper woodlands are presented. Included are statistics on area of woodland by type and ownership; area of rangeland with scattered juniper and pinyon trees; wood volume by ownership, species, and tree size; juniper fenceposts; tree and stand age distribution; stand characteristics, including overstory...

Image matching as a data source for forest inventory - Comparison of Semi-Global Matching and Next-Generation Automatic Terrain Extraction algorithms in a typical managed boreal forest environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kukkonen, M.; Maltamo, M.; Packalen, P.

2017-08-01

Image matching is emerging as a compelling alternative to airborne laser scanning (ALS) as a data source for forest inventory and management. There is currently an open discussion in the forest inventory community about whether, and to what extent, the new method can be applied to practical inventory campaigns. This paper aims to contribute to this discussion by comparing two different image matching algorithms (Semi-Global Matching [SGM] and Next-Generation Automatic Terrain Extraction [NGATE]) and ALS in a typical managed boreal forest environment in southern Finland. Spectral features from unrectified aerial images were included in the modeling and the potential of image matching in areas without a high resolution digital terrain model (DTM) was also explored. Plot level predictions for total volume, stem number, basal area, height of basal area median tree and diameter of basal area median tree were modeled using an area-based approach. Plot level dominant tree species were predicted using a random forest algorithm, also using an area-based approach. The statistical difference between the error rates from different datasets was evaluated using a bootstrap method. Results showed that ALS outperformed image matching with every forest attribute, even when a high resolution DTM was used for height normalization and spectral information from images was included. Dominant tree species classification with image matching achieved accuracy levels similar to ALS regardless of the resolution of the DTM when spectral metrics were used. Neither of the image matching algorithms consistently outperformed the other, but there were noticeably different error rates depending on the parameter configuration, spectral band, resolution of DTM, or response variable. This study showed that image matching provides reasonable point cloud data for forest inventory purposes, especially when a high resolution DTM is available and information from the understory is redundant.

Accounting for density reduction and structural loss in standing dead trees: Implications for forest biomass and carbon stock estimates in the United States

Treesearch

Grant M. Domke; Christopher W. Woodall; James E. Smith

2011-01-01

Standing dead trees are one component of forest ecosystem dead wood carbon (C) pools, whose national stock is estimated by the U.S. as required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Historically, standing dead tree C has been estimated as a function of live tree growing stock volume in the U.S.'s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Initiated...

Observed effects of an exceptional drought on tree mortality in a tropical dry forest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medvigy, D.; Vargas, G.; Xu, X.; Smith, C. M.; Becknell, J.; Brodribb, T.; Powers, J. S.

2016-12-01

Climate models predict that the coming century will bring reduced rainfall to Neotropical dry forests. It is unknown how tropical dry forest trees will respond to such rainfall reductions. Will there be increased mortality? If so, what will be the dominant mechanism of mortality? Will certain functional groups or size classes be more susceptible to unusually dry conditions and do functional traits underlie these patterns? With these questions in mind, we analyzed the response of trees from 18 Costa Rican tropical dry forest inventory plots and from additional transects to the exceptional 2015 drought that coincided with a strong ENSO event. We compared stand-level mortality rates observed during pre-drought years (2008-2014) and during the drought year of 2015 in the inventory plots. For both inventory plots and transects, we analyzed whether particular functional groups or size classes experienced exceptional mortality after the drought. We found that mortality rates were two to three times higher during the drought than before the drought. In contrast to observations at moist tropical forests, tree size had little influence on mortality. In terms of functional groups, mortality rates of evergreen oaks growing on nutrient-poor soils particularly increased during drought. Legumes seemed less affected by the drought than non-legumes. However, elevated mortality rates were not clearly correlated with commonly-measured traits like wood density or specific leaf area. Instead, hydraulic traits like P50 or turgor loss point may be better predictors of drought-driven mortality. In addition, trees that died during the drought tended to have smaller relative growth rate prior to the drought than trees that survived the drought.

Incidence and impact of damage to North Carolina's timber, 1984

Treesearch

Cindy M. Huber; Joe P. McClure; Noel D. Cost

1985-01-01

This bulletin reports survey data on agents damaging trees in North Carolina’s forests. Data were collected in 1982, 1983, and 1984 by the Forest Inventory and Analysis Work Unit of the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. This effort was part of the fifth inventory of the State’s forests. Considerably more information was gathered for this inventory than in the...

An urban forest-inventory-and-analysis investigation in Oregon and Washington

Treesearch

Jacob L. Strunk; John R. Mills; Paul Ries; Hailemariam Temesgen; Lacey Jeroue

2016-01-01

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program recently inventoried trees on 257 sample plots in the urbanized areas of Oregon and Washington. Plots were located on the standard grid (≈1 plot/2428 ha) and installed with the 4-subplot footprint (≈.067 ha with 4 circular subplots). Using these data, we examined: 1) use of...

Detecting tree-fall gap disturbances in tropical rain forests with airborne lidar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Espirito-Santo, F. D. B.; Saatchi, S.; Keller, M.

2017-12-01

Forest inventory studies in the Amazon indicate a large terrestrial carbon sink. However, field plots may fail to represent forest mortality processes at landscape-scales of tropical forests. Here we characterize the frequency distribution of tree-fall gap disturbances in natural forests of tropical forests using a novel combination of forest inventory and airborne lidar data. We quantify gap size frequency distribution along vertical and horizontal dimensions in ten Neotropical forest canopies distributed across gradients of climate and landscapes using airborne lidar measurements. We assessed all canopy openings related to each class of tree height which yields a three dimensional structure of the distribution of canopy gaps. Gap frequency distributions from lidar CHM data vary markedly with minimum gap size thresholds, but we found that natural forest disturbances (tree-fall gaps) follow a power-law distribution with narrow range of power-law exponents (-1.2 to -1.3). These power-law exponents from gap frequency distributions provide insights into how natural forest disturbances are distributed over tropical forest landscape.

Predicting tree species presence and basal area in Utah: A comparison of stochastic gradient boosting, generalized additive models, and tree-based methods

Treesearch

Gretchen G. Moisen; Elizabeth A. Freeman; Jock A. Blackard; Tracey S. Frescino; Niklaus E. Zimmermann; Thomas C. Edwards

2006-01-01

Many efforts are underway to produce broad-scale forest attribute maps by modelling forest class and structure variables collected in forest inventories as functions of satellite-based and biophysical information. Typically, variants of classification and regression trees implemented in Rulequest's© See5 and Cubist (for binary and continuous responses,...

Stability of diameter distributions in a managed uneven-aged oak forest in the Ozark Highlands

Treesearch

Zhiming Wang; Paul S. Johnson; H. E. Garrett; Stephen R. Shifley

1997-01-01

We studied a privately owned 156,000-acre oak-dominated forest in the Ozark Highlands of southern Missouri. The forest has been managed by the single-tree selection method since 1952. Using 40 years of continuous forest inventory records, we analyzed the stability of the shape of tree diameter distributions at the forest-wide scale. Results show that for trees ...

An empirical, hierarchical typology of tree species assemblages for assessing forest dynamics under global change scenarios

Treesearch

Jennifer K. Costanza; John W. Coulston; David N. Wear

2017-01-01

The composition of tree species occurring in a forest is important and can be affected by global change drivers such as climate change. To inform assessment and projection of global change impacts at broad extents, we used hierarchical cluster analysis and over 120,000 recent forest inventory plots to empirically define forest tree assemblages across the U.S., and...

Equations to convert compacted crown ratio to uncompacted crown ratio for trees in the Interior West

Treesearch

Chris Toney; Matthew C. Reeves

2009-01-01

Crown ratio is the proportion of total tree length supporting live foliage. Inventory programs of the US Forest Service generally define crown ratio in terms of compacted or uncompacted measurements. Measurement of compacted crown ratio (CCR) involves envisioning the transfer of lower branches of trees with asymmetric crowns to fill holes in the upper portion of the...

A nonparametric analysis of plot basal area growth using tree based models

Treesearch

G. L. Gadbury; H. K. lyer; H. T. Schreuder; C. Y. Ueng

1997-01-01

Tree based statistical models can be used to investigate data structure and predict future observations. We used nonparametric and nonlinear models to reexamine the data sets on tree growth used by Bechtold et al. (1991) and Ruark et al. (1991). The growth data were collected by Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) teams from 1962 to 1972 (4th cycle) and 1972 to 1982 (...

Tree age, disturbance history, and carbon stocks and fluxes in subalpine Rocky Mountain forests

Treesearch

J.B. Bradford; R.A. Birdsey; L.A. Joyce; M.G. Ryan

2008-01-01

Forest carbon stocks and fluxes vary with forest age, and relationships with forest age are often used to estimate fluxes for regional or national carbon inventories. Two methods are commonly used to estimate forest age: observed tree age or time since a known disturbance. To clarify the relationships between tree age, time since disturbance and forest carbon storage...

New Approaches to FIA data for understanding distribution, abundance, and response to climate change

Treesearch

Kai Zhu; Souparno Ghosh; Alan E. Gelfand; James S. Clark

2012-01-01

We are using Forest Inventory and Analysis data to examine evidence for tree responses to climate change. By comparing seedling and tree occurrence data, we found that there is not yet evidence that tree populations in the eastern half of the United States are shifting geographic ranges to higher latitude in response to warming temperature. We are developing novel...

A GIS-based tool for estimating tree canopy cover on fixed-radius plots using high-resolution aerial imagery

Treesearch

Sara A. Goeking; Greg C. Liknes; Erik Lindblom; John Chase; Dennis M. Jacobs; Robert. Benton

2012-01-01

Recent changes to the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program's definition of forest land precipitated the development of a geographic information system (GIS)-based tool for efficiently estimating tree canopy cover for all FIA plots. The FIA definition of forest land has shifted from a density-related criterion based on stocking to a 10 percent tree canopy...

Impact of ecological and socioeconomic determinants on the spread of tallow tree in southern forest lands

Treesearch

Yuan Tan; Joseph Z. Fan; Christopher M. Oswalt

2010-01-01

Based on USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database, relationships between the presence of tallow tree and related driving variables including forest landscape metrics, stand and site conditions, as well as natural and anthropogenic disturbances were analyzed for the southern states infested by tallow trees. Of the 9,966 re-measured FIA plots in...

Is there a better metric than site index to indicate the productivity of forested lands?

Treesearch

Maria E. Blanco Martin; Michael Hoppus; Andrew Lister; James A. Westfall

2009-01-01

The Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program selects site trees for each plot that are used to measure site productivity. The ability of a site to produce wood volume is indicated indirectly by comparing total tree height with tree age. This comparison assumes that the rate of height growth is strongly related to...

Inventory-based sensitivity analysis of the Large Tree Diameter Growth Submodel of the Southern Variant of the FVS

Treesearch

Giorgio Vacchiano; John D. Shaw; R. Justin DeRose; James N. Long

2008-01-01

Diameter increment is an important variable in modeling tree growth. Most facets of predicted tree development are dependent in part on diameter or diameter increment, the most commonly measured stand variable. The behavior of the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) largely relies on the performance of the diameter increment model and the subsequent use of predicted dbh...

Michigan's forest statistics, 1987: an inventory update.

Treesearch

W. Brad Smith; Jerold T. Hahn

1986-01-01

The Michigan 1987 inventory update, derived by using tree growth models, reports 17.3 million acres of timberland, a decline of less than 1% since 1980. Growing-stock removals have risen sharply since 1979, climbing from 275 million cubic feet annually to the current level of 398 cubic feet.

Idaho's Forest Resources, 2004-2009

Treesearch

Chris Witt; John D. Shaw; Michael T. Thompson; Sara A. Goeking; Jim Menlove; Michael C. Amacher; Todd A. Morgan; Charles Werstak

2012-01-01

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory information for Idaho's forest lands. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, number of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, and removals. Most of the tables are organized by forest type, species, diameter class, or owner group. The report also describes inventory design,...

New Mexico's Forest Resources, 2000

Treesearch

Renee A. O' Brien

2003-01-01

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory information for New Mexico's forest lands. Most of the data are from the inventory completed in 2000 that included National Forest System lands and reserved lands. This report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, number of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, successional stage,...

Arizona's Forest Resources, 1999

Treesearch

Renee O' Brien

2002-01-01

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory information for Arizona's forest lands. Much of the data are from the inventory completed in 1999 that included National Forest System lands and reserved lands. This report includes tables and highlights of area, number of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, successional stage, understory...

Testing for change in structural elements of forest inventories

Treesearch

Melinda Vokoun; David Wear; Robert Abt

2009-01-01

In this article we develop a methodology to test for changes in the underlying relationships between measures of forest productivity (structural elements) and site characteristics, herein referred to as structural changes, using standard forest inventories. Changes in measures of forest growing stock volume and number of trees for both...

Statistics and quality assurance for the Northern Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Treesearch

Dale D. Gormanson; Scott A. Pugh; Charles J. Barnett; Patrick D. Miles; Randall S. Morin; Paul A. Sowers; James A. Westfall

2018-01-01

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program collects sample plot data on all forest ownerships across the United States. FIA’s primary objective is to determine the extent, condition, volume, growth, and use of trees on the Nation’s forest land through a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the Nation’s forest resources. The FIA program...

Tree-level imputation techniques to estimate current plot-level attributes in the Pacific Northwest using paneled inventory data

Treesearch

Bianca Eskelson; Temesgen Hailemariam; Tara Barrett

2009-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis program (FIA) of the US Forest Service conducts a nationwide annual inventory. One panel (20% or 10% of all plots in the eastern and western United States, respectively) is measured each year. The precision of the estimates for any given year from one panel is low, and the moving average (MA), which is considered to be the default...

Gaps in sampling and limitations to tree biomass estimation: a review of past sampling efforts over the past 50 years

Treesearch

Aaron Weiskittel; Jereme Frank; James Westfall; David Walker; Phil Radtke; David Affleck; David Macfarlane

2015-01-01

Tree biomass models are widely used but differ due to variation in the quality and quantity of data used in their development. We reviewed over 250 biomass studies and categorized them by species, location, sampled diameter distribution, and sample size. Overall, less than half of the tree species in Forest Inventory and Analysis database (FIADB) are without a...

Stand Dynamics in an Old-Growth Hardwood Forest in Southern Illinois, USA

Treesearch

James J. Zaczek; John W. Groninger; J. W. Van Sambeek

2002-01-01

Kaskaskia Woods, a 7.4-ha old-growth hardwood forest in southern Illinois, USA, has been managed as a natural area and protected from disturbance since 1933. In 1935, eight 0.1-ha plots were installed and all trees 4 cm dbh or larger were tagged and inventoried. Trees were remeasured for survival, ingrowth (new trees >4 cm), and diameter (dbh) in 1940, 1958, 1965,...

Modeling browse impacts on sapling and tree recruitment across forests in the northern United States

Treesearch

Matthew B. Russell; James A. Westfall; Christopher W. Woodall

2017-01-01

Understanding the patterns of tree recruitment is essential to quantifying the future health and productivity of forest ecosystems. Using national forest inventory information, we incorporated browse impact measurements into models of sapling (2.5–12.7 cm diameter at breast height (DBH)) and overstory tree (≥12.7 cm DBH) ingrowth across the northern United States....

Forest inventory predictions from individual tree crowns: regression modeling within a sample framework

Treesearch

James W. Flewelling

2009-01-01

Remotely sensed data can be used to make digital maps showing individual tree crowns (ITC) for entire forests. Attributes of the ITCs may include area, shape, height, and color. The crown map is sampled in a way that provides an unbiased linkage between ITCs and identifiable trees measured on the ground. Methods of avoiding edge bias are given. In an example from a...

Crown Condition

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph

2009-01-01

Photosynthetic capacity is dependent upon the size and condition of the tree crown. Trees with full, vigorous crowns are generally associated with more vigorous growth rates (Zarnoch and others 2004). Therefore, the Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program measures a suite of crown condition indicators to evaluate forest health. Among the crown...

Estimation of Total Tree Height from Renewable Resources Evaluation Data

Treesearch

Charles E. Thomas

1981-01-01

Many ecological, biological, and genetic studies use the measurement of total tree height. Until recently, the Southern Forest Experiment Station's inventory procedures through Renewable Resources Evaluation (RRE) have not included total height measurements. This note provides equations to estimate total height based on other RRE measurements.

Dominant forest tree mycorrhizal type mediates understory plant invasions

Treesearch

Insu Jo; Kevin M. Potter; Grant M. Domke; Songlin Fei

2017-01-01

Forest mycorrhizal type mediates nutrient dynamics, which in turn can influence forest community structure and processes. Using forest inventory data, we explored how dominant forest tree mycorrhizal type affects understory plant invasions with consideration of forest structure and soil properties. We found that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) dominant forests, which are...

Decision-Tree, Rule-Based, and Random Forest Classification of High-Resolution Multispectral Imagery for Wetland Mapping and Inventory

EPA Science Inventory

Efforts are increasingly being made to classify the world’s wetland resources, an important ecosystem and habitat that is diminishing in abundance. There are multiple remote sensing classification methods, including a suite of nonparametric classifiers such as decision-tree...

Forest resources of southern New England

Treesearch

Robert T. Brooks; David B. Kittredge; Carol L. Alerich; Carol L. Alerich

1993-01-01

An analytical report of the third forest inventory of the three southern New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Included is a discussion of forest area, number of trees, timber volume, tree biomass, timber value, forest wildlife habitat, ownership, management opportunities, and the future of forest resources in southern New England.

Multistage variable probability forest volume inventory. [Defiance Unit of the Navajo Nation in Arizona and Colorado

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, J. E. (Principal Investigator)

1979-01-01

The net board foot volume (Scribner log rule) of the standing Ponderosa pine timber on the Defiance Unit of the Navajo Nation's forested land was estimated using a multistage forest volume inventory scheme with variable sample selection probabilities. The inventory designed to accomplish this task required that both LANDSAT MSS digital data and aircraft acquired data be used to locate one acre ground splits, which were subsequently visited by ground teams conducting detailed tree measurements using an optical dendrometer. The dendrometer measurements were then punched on computer input cards and were entered in a computer program developed by the U.S. Forest Service. The resulting individual tree volume estimates were then expanded through the use of a statistically defined equation to produce the volume estimate for the entire area which includes 192,026 acres and is approximately a 44% the total forested area of the Navajo Nation.

Estimating tree species richness from forest inventory plot data

Treesearch

Ronald E. McRoberts; Dacia M. Meneguzzo

2007-01-01

Montreal Process Criterion 1, Conservation of Biological Diversity, expresses species diversity in terms of number of forest dependent species. Species richness, defined as the total number of species present, is a common metric for analyzing species diversity. A crucial difficulty in estimating species richness from sample data obtained from sources such as inventory...

Even-Aged Management and Landslide Inventory, Jackson Demonstration State Forest, Mendocino County, California

Treesearch

Julie A. Bawcom

2007-01-01

Tree removal associated with clearcutting in a coastal redwood forest does not alone initiate numerous shallow landslides that deliver large quantities of sediment to watercourses. landslide inventory focused on the relationship between vegetation removal in predominantly second-growth redwood forest and shallow landslides. Deep-seated dormant landslide features were...

Indiana Forests 2013

Treesearch

Dale D. Gormanson; Joey Gallion; Charles J. Barnett; Brett J. Butler; Susan J. Crocker; Cassandra M. Kurtz; Tonya W. Lister; William Luppold; William McWilliams; Patrick D. Miles; Randall S. Morin; Mark D. Nelson; Barbara O' Connell; Charles H. (Hobie) Perry; Rachel I. Riemann; Ronald J. Piva; James E. Smith; Paul A. Sowers; Jim Westfall; Christopher W. Woodall

2016-01-01

This report summarizes the third full annualized inventory of Indiana forests conducted from 2009 to 2013 by the Forest Inventory and Analysis program of the Northern Research Station in cooperation with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Forestry. Indiana has nearly 4.9 million acres of forest land with an average of 454 trees per acre. Forest...

Inventory shows extent of non-native invasive plants in Minnesota forests

Treesearch

W. Keith Moser; Mark D. Nelson; Mark H. Hansen

2009-01-01

Readers are no doubt aware of the impact that non-native invasive plants (NNIP) present to Minnesota's ecosystems. The U.S. Forest Service's Northern Research Station (NRS) Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program is studying what determines where these plants are found, including forest type, tree density, disturbance, productivity, and topography.

Inventory of Commercial Hardwoods in the High Sierra

Treesearch

Norman H. Pillsbury; George L. McCaskill

1991-01-01

A hardwood resources assessment was completed for the Sierra Economic Development District in the north central Sierra Nevada. The assessment included the development of a tree grading system for the major hardwood species in the area, an inventory of the hardwood resources, and recommendations for hardwood management. Hardwood volumes of total wood available for...

Using inventory-based tree-ring data as a proxy for historical climate: Investigating the Pacific decadal oscillation and teleconnections

Treesearch

J. DeRose; S. Wang; J. Shaw

2014-01-01

In 2009, the Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the U.S. Forest Service started to archive approximately 11 000 increment cores collected in the Interior West states during the periodic inventories of the 1980s and 1990s. The two primary goals for use of the data were to provide a plot-linked database of radial growth to be used for growth...

Down woody material, soil and tree core collection and analysis from the 2014 Tanana pilot plots

Treesearch

Robert R. Pattison; Andrew N. Gray; Patrick F. Sullivan; Kristen L. Manies

2015-01-01

In the summer of 2014 the US Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station in conjunction with NASA Goddard carried out a pilot inventory of the forests of interior Alaska. This inventory was conducted on the State of Alaska’s Tanana Valley State Forest and on the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge. As part of...

Ancient human disturbances may be skewing our understanding of Amazonian forests.

PubMed

McMichael, Crystal N H; Matthews-Bird, Frazer; Farfan-Rios, William; Feeley, Kenneth J

2017-01-17

Although the Amazon rainforest houses much of Earth's biodiversity and plays a major role in the global carbon budget, estimates of tree biodiversity originate from fewer than 1,000 forest inventory plots, and estimates of carbon dynamics are derived from fewer than 200 recensus plots. It is well documented that the pre-European inhabitants of Amazonia actively transformed and modified the forest in many regions before their population collapse around 1491 AD; however, the impacts of these ancient disturbances remain entirely unaccounted for in the many highly influential studies using Amazonian forest plots. Here we examine whether Amazonian forest inventory plot locations are spatially biased toward areas with high probability of ancient human impacts. Our analyses reveal that forest inventory plots, and especially forest recensus plots, in all regions of Amazonia are located disproportionately near archaeological evidence and in areas likely to have ancient human impacts. Furthermore, regions of the Amazon that are relatively oversampled with inventory plots also contain the highest values of predicted ancient human impacts. Given the long lifespan of Amazonian trees, many forest inventory and recensus sites may still be recovering from past disturbances, potentially skewing our interpretations of forest dynamics and our understanding of how these forests are responding to global change. Empirical data on the human history of forest inventory sites are crucial for determining how past disturbances affect modern patterns of forest composition and carbon flux in Amazonian forests.

Inferring biome-scale net primary productivity from tree-ring isotopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pederson, N.; Levesque, M.; Williams, A. P.; Hobi, M. L.; Smith, W. K.; Andreu-Hayles, L.

2017-12-01

Satellite estimates of vegetation growth (net primary productivity; NPP), tree-ring records, and forest inventories indicate that ongoing climate change and rising atmospheric CO2 concentration are altering productivity and carbon storage of forests worldwide. The impact of global change on the trends of NPP, however, remain unknown because of the lack of long-term high-resolution NPP data. For the first time, we tested if annually resolved carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) stable isotopes from the cellulose of tree rings from trees in temperate regions could be used as a tool for inferring NPP across spatiotemporal scales. We compared satellite NPP estimates from the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer sensor (MODIS, product MOD17A) and a newly developed global NPP dataset derived from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) dataset to annually resolved tree-ring width and δ13C and δ18O records from four sites along a hydroclimatic gradient in Eastern and Central United States. We found strong correlations across large geographical regions between satellite-derived NPP and tree-ring isotopes that ranged from -0.40 to -0.91. Notably, tree-ring derived δ18O had the strongest relation to climate. The results were consistent among the studied tree species (Quercus rubra and Liriodendron tulipifera) and along the hydroclimatic conditions of our network. Our study indicates that tree-ring isotopes can potentially be used to reconstruct NPP in time and space. As such, our findings represent an important breakthrough for estimating long-term changes in vegetation productivity at the biome scale.

The importance of age-related decline in forest NPP for modeling regional carbon balances.

PubMed

Zaehle, Sönke; Sitch, Stephen; Prentice, I Colin; Liski, Jari; Cramer, Wolfgang; Erhard, Markus; Hickler, Thomas; Smith, Benjamin

2006-08-01

We show the implications of the commonly observed age-related decline in aboveground productivity of forests, and hence forest age structure, on the carbon dynamics of European forests in response to historical changes in environmental conditions. Size-dependent carbon allocation in trees to counteract increasing hydraulic resistance with tree height has been hypothesized to be responsible for this decline. Incorporated into a global terrestrial biosphere model (the Lund-Potsdam-Jena model, LPJ), this hypothesis improves the simulated increase in biomass with stand age. Application of the advanced model, including a generic representation of forest management in even-aged stands, for 77 European provinces shows that model-based estimates of biomass development with age compare favorably with inventory-based estimates for different tree species. Model estimates of biomass densities on province and country levels, and trends in growth increment along an annual mean temperature gradient are in broad agreement with inventory data. However, the level of agreement between modeled and inventory-based estimates varies markedly between countries and provinces. The model is able to reproduce the present-day age structure of forests and the ratio of biomass removals to increment on a European scale based on observed changes in climate, atmospheric CO2 concentration, forest area, and wood demand between 1948 and 2000. Vegetation in European forests is modeled to sequester carbon at a rate of 100 Tg C/yr, which corresponds well to forest inventory-based estimates.

From Google Maps to a fine-grained catalog of street trees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Branson, Steve; Wegner, Jan Dirk; Hall, David; Lang, Nico; Schindler, Konrad; Perona, Pietro

2018-01-01

Up-to-date catalogs of the urban tree population are of importance for municipalities to monitor and improve quality of life in cities. Despite much research on automation of tree mapping, mainly relying on dedicated airborne LiDAR or hyperspectral campaigns, tree detection and species recognition is still mostly done manually in practice. We present a fully automated tree detection and species recognition pipeline that can process thousands of trees within a few hours using publicly available aerial and street view images of Google MapsTM. These data provide rich information from different viewpoints and at different scales from global tree shapes to bark textures. Our work-flow is built around a supervised classification that automatically learns the most discriminative features from thousands of trees and corresponding, publicly available tree inventory data. In addition, we introduce a change tracker that recognizes changes of individual trees at city-scale, which is essential to keep an urban tree inventory up-to-date. The system takes street-level images of the same tree location at two different times and classifies the type of change (e.g., tree has been removed). Drawing on recent advances in computer vision and machine learning, we apply convolutional neural networks (CNN) for all classification tasks. We propose the following pipeline: download all available panoramas and overhead images of an area of interest, detect trees per image and combine multi-view detections in a probabilistic framework, adding prior knowledge; recognize fine-grained species of detected trees. In a later, separate module, track trees over time, detect significant changes and classify the type of change. We believe this is the first work to exploit publicly available image data for city-scale street tree detection, species recognition and change tracking, exhaustively over several square kilometers, respectively many thousands of trees. Experiments in the city of Pasadena, California, USA show that we can detect >70% of the street trees, assign correct species to >80% for 40 different species, and correctly detect and classify changes in >90% of the cases.

Main stem green and dry weights of red oak, white oak, and maple in the Appalachian region of Virginia

Treesearch

Richard G. Oderwald; Daniel A. Yaussy

1980-01-01

New emphasis has been placed on the weight of whole trees and portions of trees. Weight inventories and purchase of wood by weight are becoming increasingly common for saw logs as well as pulpwood. More information needs to be gathered on the weight of portions of tree stems, however, before weight can be a standard measurement unit. This information must also be...

Differences between standing and downed dead tree wood density reduction factors: A comparison across decay classes and tree species

Treesearch

Mark E. Harmon; Christopher W. Woodall; Becky Fasth; Jay Sexton; Misha Yatkov

2011-01-01

Woody detritus or dead wood is an important part of forest ecosystems and has become a routine facet of forest monitoring and inventory. Biomass and carbon estimates of dead wood depend on knowledge of species- and decay class-specifi c density or density reduction factors. While some progress has been made in determining these parameters for dead and downed trees (DD...

Stochastically generating tree diameter lists to populate forest stands based on the linkage variables forest type and stand age

Treesearch

Bernard R. Parresol; F. Thomas Lloyd

2003-01-01

Forest inventory data were used to develop a standage-driven, stochastic predictor of unit-area, frequency weighted lists of breast high tree diameters (DBH). The average of mean statistics from 40 simulation prediction sets of an independent 78-plot validation dataset differed from the observed validation means by 0.5 cm for DBH, and by 12 trees/h for density. The 40...

Geospatial relationships of tree species damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in south Mississippi

Treesearch

Mark W. Garrigues; Zhaofei Fan; David L. Evans; Scott D. Roberts; William H. Cooke III

2012-01-01

Hurricane Katrina generated substantial impacts on the forests and biological resources of the affected area in Mississippi. This study seeks to use classification tree analysis (CTA) to determine which variables are significant in predicting hurricane damage (shear or windthrow) in the Southeast Mississippi Institute for Forest Inventory District. Logistic regressions...

Analysis of forest naturalness and tree mortality patterns in Estonia

Treesearch

J.A. Stanturf

2009-01-01

New methods for evaluating structural properties of stands and individual tree mortality within forests are needed to enhance biodiversity assessment in forest inventories. One approach is to assess the degree of naturalness in a forest. We assessed forest naturalness by examining patterns and causes of mortality and deadwood amount and...

Harvesting small trees for bio-energy

Treesearch

John Klepac; Robert Rummer; Jason Thompson

2011-01-01

A conventional whole-tree logging operation consisting of 4-wheeled and 3-wheeled saw-head feller-bunchers, two grapple skidders and a chipper that produces dirty chips was monitored across several stands and machine performance evaluated. Stands were inventoried to determine density, volume, and basal area per acre and will be used to relate machine performance to...

Social and biophysical variation in regional timber harvest regimes

Treesearch

Jonathan R. Thompson; Charles D. Canham; Luca Morreale; David B. Kittredge; Brett Butler

2017-01-01

In terms of adult tree mortality, harvesting is the most prevalent disturbance in northeastern United States forests. Previous studies have demonstrated that stand structure and tree species composition are important predictors of harvest. We extend this work to investigate how social factors further influence harvest regimes. By coupling the Forest Inventory and...

The efficacy of using inventory data to develop optimal diameter increment models

Treesearch

Don C. Bragg

2002-01-01

Most optimal tree diameter growth models have arisen through either the conceptualization of physiological processes or the adaptation of empirical increment models. However, surprisingly little effort has been invested in the melding of these approaches even though it is possible to develop theoretically sound, computationally efficient optimal tree growth models...

Optimal Diameter Growth Equations for Major Tree Species of the Midsouth

Treesearch

Don C. Bragg

2003-01-01

Optimal diameter growth equations for 60 major tree species were fit using the potential relative increment (PRI) methodology. Almost 175,000 individuals from the Midsouth (Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas) were selected from the USDA Forest Service's Eastwide Forest Inventory Database (EFIDB). These records were then reduced to the individuals...

Estimates of the occurrence of dwarf mistletoe on the Deschutes National Forest.

Treesearch

Donald J. DeMars

1980-01-01

The proportion of forest area infested and of trees infected were calculated for the Deschutes National Forest by using 10-point plot inventory data. The proportion of commercial forest acres infested with dwarf mistletoe is 0.476, and the proportion of trees infected on these acres is 0.308.

Dominant forest tree mycorrhizal type mediates understory plant invasions

Treesearch

Insu Jo; Kevin M. Potter; Grant M. Domke; Songlin Fei

2018-01-01

Forest mycorrhizal type mediates nutrient dynamics, which in turn can influence forest community structure and processes. Using forest inventory data, we explored how dominant forest tree myc- orrhizal type affects understory plant invasions with consideration of forest structure and soil properties. We found that arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) dominant forests, which are...

Strategies for assessing inter- and intra-specific variation in tree biomass in the interior west

Treesearch

David L.R. Affleck; John M. Goodburn; John D. Shaw

2012-01-01

Wildfire hazard mitigation and bioenergy harvesting have emerged as forest management priorities throughout the Interior West (IW) of the USA. Regional forest inventory and forecasting applications are therefore increasingly focused on tree biomass, including biomass in traditionally non-merchantable components. Yet accurate biomass equations for the latter components...

Development of a digital camera tree evaluation system

Treesearch

Neil Clark; Daniel L. Schmoldt; Philip A. Araman

2000-01-01

Within the Strategic Plan for Forest Inventory and Monitoring (USDA Forest Service 1998), there is a call to "conduct applied research in the use of [advanced technology] towards the end of increasing the operational efficiency and effectiveness of our program". The digital camera tree evaluation system is part of that research, aimed at decreasing field...

Descriptive statistics of tree crown condition in the Northeastern United States

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph; Randall S. Morin; Jim Steinman

2010-01-01

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program uses visual assessments of tree crown condition to monitor changes and trends in forest health. This report describes four crown condition indicators (crown dieback, crown density, foliage transparency, and sapling crown vigor) measured in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New...

Hierarchical spatial models for predicting tree species assemblages across large domains

Treesearch

Andrew O. Finley; Sudipto Banerjee; Ronald E. McRoberts

2009-01-01

Spatially explicit data layers of tree species assemblages, referred to as forest types or forest type groups, are a key component in large-scale assessments of forest sustainability, biodiversity, timber biomass, carbon sinks and forest health monitoring. This paper explores the utility of coupling georeferenced national forest inventory (NFI) data with readily...

The forest and the trees: Applications for molecular markers in the Pecan Breeding Program

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Inventory specific verification of accession identity is crucial to the function of the National Collection of Genetic Resources (NCGR) for Pecans and Hickories, and is an increasingly important component of the USDA ARS Pecan Breeding Program. The foundation of the NCGR is the living trees maintai...

A Sustainability Initiative to Quantify Carbon Sequestration by Campus Trees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Helen M.

2012-01-01

Over 3,900 trees on a university campus were inventoried by an instructor-led team of geography undergraduates in order to quantify the carbon sequestration associated with biomass growth. The setting of the project is described, together with its logistics, methodology, outcomes, and benefits. This hands-on project provided a team of students…

Implementing the measurement interval midpoint method for change estimation

Treesearch

James A. Westfall; Thomas Frieswyk; Douglas M. Griffith

2009-01-01

The adoption of nationally consistent estimation procedures for the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program mandates changes in the methods used to develop resource trend information. Particularly, it is prescribed that changes in tree status occur at the midpoint of the measurement interval to minimize potential bias. The individual-tree characteristics requiring...

A wood density and aboveground biomass variability assessment using pre-felling inventory data in Costa Rica.

PubMed

Svob, Sienna; Arroyo-Mora, J Pablo; Kalacska, Margaret

2014-12-01

The high spatio-temporal variability of aboveground biomass (AGB) in tropical forests is a large source of uncertainty in forest carbon stock estimation. Due to their spatial distribution and sampling intensity, pre-felling inventories are a potential source of ground level data that could help reduce this uncertainty at larger spatial scales. Further, exploring the factors known to influence tropical forest biomass, such as wood density and large tree density, will improve our knowledge of biomass distribution across tropical regions. Here, we evaluate (1) the variability of wood density and (2) the variability of AGB across five ecosystems of Costa Rica. Using forest management (pre-felling) inventories we found that, of the regions studied, Huetar Norte had the highest mean wood density of trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) greater than or equal to 30 cm, 0.623 ± 0.182 g cm -3 (mean ± standard deviation). Although the greatest wood density was observed in Huetar Norte, the highest mean estimated AGB (EAGB) of trees with a DBH greater than or equal to 30 cm was observed in Osa peninsula (173.47 ± 60.23 Mg ha -1 ). The density of large trees explained approximately 50% of EAGB variability across the five ecosystems studied. Comparing our study's EAGB to published estimates reveals that, in the regions of Costa Rica where AGB has been previously sampled, our forest management data produced similar values. This study presents the most spatially rich analysis of ground level AGB data in Costa Rica to date. Using forest management data, we found that EAGB within and among five Costa Rican ecosystems is highly variable. Combining commercial logging inventories with ecological plots will provide a more representative ground level dataset for the calibration of the models and remotely sensed data used to EAGB at regional and national scales. Additionally, because the non-protected areas of the tropics offer the greatest opportunity to reduce rates of deforestation and forest degradation, logging inventories offer a promising source of data to support mechanisms such as the United Nations REDD + (Reducing Emissions from Tropical Deforestation and Degradation) program.

Assessing and Improving Student Understanding of Tree-Thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kummer, Tyler A.

Evolution is the unifying theory of biology. The importance of understanding evolution by those who study the origins, diversification and diversity life cannot be overstated. Because of its importance, in addition to a scientific study of evolution, many researchers have spent time studying the acceptance and the teaching of evolution. Phylogenetic Systematics is the field of study developed to understand the evolutionary history of organisms, traits, and genes. Tree-thinking is the term by which we identify concepts related to the evolutionary history of organisms. It is vital that those who undertake a study of biology be able to understand and interpret what information these phylogenies are meant to convey. In this project, we evaluated the current impact a traditional study of biology has on the misconceptions students hold by assessing tree-thinking in freshman biology students to those nearing the end of their studies. We found that the impact of studying biology was varied with some misconceptions changing significantly while others persisted. Despite the importance of tree-thinking no appropriately developed concept inventory exists to measure student understanding of these important concepts. We developed a concept inventory capable of filling this important need and provide evidence to support its use among undergraduate students. Finally, we developed and modified activities as well as courses based on best practices to improve teaching and learning of tree-thinking and organismal diversity. We accomplished this by focusing on two key questions. First, how do we best introduce students to tree-thinking and second does tree-thinking as a course theme enhance student understanding of not only tree-thinking but also organismal diversity. We found important evidence suggesting that introducing students to tree-thinking via building evolutionary trees was less successful than introducing the concept via tree interpretation and may have in fact introduced or strengthened a misconception. We also found evidence that infusing tree-thinking into an organismal diversity course not only enhances student understanding of tree-thinking but also helps them better learn organismal diversity.

Level 2 Screening with the PDD Behavior Inventory: Subgroup Profiles and Implications for Differential Diagnosis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cohen, Ira L.; Liu, Xudong; Hudson, Melissa; Gillis, Jennifer; Cavalari, Rachel N. S.; Romanczyk, Raymond G.; Karmel, Bernard Z.; Gardner, Judith M.

2017-01-01

The PDD Behavior Inventory (PDDBI) has recently been shown, in a large multisite study, to discriminate well between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other groups when its scores were examined using a machine learning tool, Classification and Regression Trees (CART). Discrimination was good for toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children;…

The components of change for an annual forest inventory design

Treesearch

Francis A. Roesch

2007-01-01

The sample design of the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA) with respect to a three-dimensional population (forest area X time) of tree attributes is formally defined and evaluated. The definitions for both the traditional components of growth, as presented by Meyer (1953, Forest Mensuration), and a discrete analog to the time...

Accuracy and efficiency of area classifications based on tree tally

Treesearch

Michael S. Williams; Hans T. Schreuder; Raymond L. Czaplewski

2001-01-01

Inventory data are often used to estimate the area of the land base that is classified as a specific condition class. Examples include areas classified as old-growth forest, private ownership, or suitable habitat for a given species. Many inventory programs rely on classification algorithms of varying complexity to determine condition class. These algorithms can be...

Considerations in Forest Growth Estimation Between Two Measurements of Mapped Forest Inventory Plots

Treesearch

Michael T. Thompson

2006-01-01

Several aspects of the enhanced Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program?s national plot design complicate change estimation. The design incorporates up to three separate plot sizes (microplot, subplot, and macroplot) to sample trees of different sizes. Because multiple plot sizes are involved, change estimators designed for polyareal plot sampling, such as those...

Effects of Model Choice and Forest Structure on Inventory-Based Estimations of Puerto Rican Forest Biomass.

Treesearch

THOMAS J. BRANDEIS; MARIA DEL ROCIO SUAREZ ROZO

2005-01-01

Total aboveground live tree biomass in Puerto Rican lower montane wet, subtropical wet, subtropical moist and subtropical dry forests was estimated using data from two forest inventories and published regression equations. Multiple potentially-applicable published biomass models existed for some forested life zones, and their estimates tended to diverge with increasing...

Effects of model choice and forest structure on inventory-based estimations of Puerto Rican forest biomass

Treesearch

Thomas J. Brandeis; Maria Del Rocio; Suarez Rozo

2005-01-01

Total aboveground live tree biomass in Puerto Rican lower montane wet, subtropical wet, subtropical moist and subtropical dry forests was estimated using data from two forest inventories and published regression equations. Multiple potentially-applicable published biomass models existed for some forested life zones, and their estimates tended to diverge with increasing...

Northwest plant names and symbols for ecosystem inventory and analysis.

Treesearch

G.A. Garrison; J.M. Skovlin; C.E. Poulton; A.H. Winward

1976-01-01

This paper is basically an alpha code and name listing of forest and rangeland grasses, sedges, rushes, forbs, shrubs, and trees of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. The code expedites recording of vegetation inventory data and is especially useful to those processing their data by contemporary computer systems. Editorial and secretarial personnel will find the name and...

Forests of western Oregon: an overview.

Treesearch

Sally Campbell; Dave Azuma; Dale. Weyermann

2002-01-01

This publication provides highlights of forest inventories and surveys from 1993 to 2000. It presents both traditional and nontraditional information about western Oregon’s forests.The amount of forest land in western Oregon has changed little since the earliest inventory in 1930. About 80 percent of western Oregon is forested. Fifty tree species were tallied in forest...

Composite estimation for forest inventories using multiple value groups and strata

Treesearch

Michael S. Williams; Ken A. Cormier

1996-01-01

Due to economic and political pressures placed on timber production, information from timber inventories needs to be broken down into information on particular value groups, which are groupings based on individual tree characteristics. Thus estimates of totals and variances need to be computed for individual value groups, all value groups combined, and any collection...

Incidence and impact of damage to Virginia's timber, 1986

Treesearch

Cindy M. Huber; Joe P. McClure; Noel D. Cost

1987-01-01

This bulletin reports survey data on agents damaging trees in Virginia's forests. Data were collected in 1984 and 1985 by the Forest Inventory and Analysis Work Unit of the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. This effort was part of the fifth inventory of the State's forests. Damage information similiar to the previous survey was gathered for this...

Dead wood inventory and assessment in South Korea

Treesearch

Jong-Su Yim; Rae Hyun Kim; Sun-Jeong Lee; Yeongmo Son

2015-01-01

Dead wood (DW) plays a critical role not only in maintaining biodiversity but also in stocking carbon under UNFCCC. From the 5th national forest inventory (NFI5; 2006-2010) in South Korea, field data relevant to the DW including standing and downed dead trees by four decay class, etc. were collected. Based on the NFI5 data,...

Using a remote sensing-based, percent tree cover map to enhance forest inventory estimation

Treesearch

Ronald E. McRoberts; Greg C. Liknes; Grant M. Domke

2014-01-01

For most national forest inventories, the variables of primary interest to users are forest area and growing stock volume. The precision of estimates of parameters related to these variables can be increased using remotely sensed auxiliary variables, often in combination with stratified estimators. However, acquisition and processing of large amounts of remotely sensed...

Where did the US forest biomass/carbon go?

Treesearch

Christopher William Woodall

2012-01-01

In Apr. 2012, with the submission of the 1990-2010 US Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the official estimates of aboveground live tree carbon stocks within managed forests of the United States will drop by approximately 14%, compared with last year's inventory. It does not stop there, dead wood...

Summary of mortality statistics and forest health monitoring results for the Northeastern United States

Treesearch

William H. McWilliams; Stanford L. Arner; Charles J. Barnett

1997-01-01

The USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program and the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) program maintain networks of sample locations providing coarse-scale information that characterize general indicators of forest health. Tree mortality is the primary FIA variable for analyzing forest health. Recent FIA inventories of New York, Pennsylvania...

A general method for assessing the effects of uncertainty in individual-tree volume model predictions on large-area volume estimates with a subtropical forest illustration

Treesearch

Ronald E. McRoberts; Paolo Moser; Laio Zimermann Oliveira; Alexander C. Vibrans

2015-01-01

Forest inventory estimates of tree volume for large areas are typically calculated by adding the model predictions of volumes for individual trees at the plot level, calculating the mean over plots, and expressing the result on a per unit area basis. The uncertainty in the model predictions is generally ignored, with the result that the precision of the large-area...

Comparison of leaf-on and leaf-off ALS data for mapping riparian tree species

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laslier, Marianne; Ba, Antoine; Hubert-Moy, Laurence; Dufour, Simon

2017-10-01

Forest species composition is a fundamental indicator of forest study and management. However, describing forest species composition at large scales and of highly diverse populations remains an issue for which remote sensing can provide significant contribution, in particular, Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data. Riparian corridors are good examples of highly valuable ecosystems, with high species richness and large surface areas that can be time consuming and expensive to monitor with in situ measurements. Remote sensing could be useful to study them, but few studies have focused on monitoring riparian tree species using ALS data. This study aimed to determine which metrics derived from ALS data are best suited to identify and map riparian tree species. We acquired very high density leaf-on and leaf-off ALS data along the Sélune River (France). In addition, we inventoried eight main riparian deciduous tree species along the study site. After manual segmentation of the inventoried trees, we extracted 68 morphological and structural metrics from both leaf-on and leaf-off ALS point clouds. Some of these metrics were then selected using Sequential Forward Selection (SFS) algorithm. Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification results showed good accuracy with 7 metrics (0.77). Both leaf-on and leafoff metrics were kept as important metrics for distinguishing tree species. Results demonstrate the ability of 3D information derived from high density ALS data to identify riparian tree species using external and internal structural metrics. They also highlight the complementarity of leaf-on and leaf-off Lidar data for distinguishing riparian tree species.

Merging National Forest and National Forest Health Inventories to Obtain an Integrated Forest Resource Inventory – Experiences from Bavaria, Slovenia and Sweden

PubMed Central

Kovač, Marko; Bauer, Arthur; Ståhl, Göran

2014-01-01

Backgrounds, Material and Methods To meet the demands of sustainable forest management and international commitments, European nations have designed a variety of forest-monitoring systems for specific needs. While the majority of countries are committed to independent, single-purpose inventorying, a minority of countries have merged their single-purpose forest inventory systems into integrated forest resource inventories. The statistical efficiencies of the Bavarian, Slovene and Swedish integrated forest resource inventory designs are investigated with the various statistical parameters of the variables of growing stock volume, shares of damaged trees, and deadwood volume. The parameters are derived by using the estimators for the given inventory designs. The required sample sizes are derived via the general formula for non-stratified independent samples and via statistical power analyses. The cost effectiveness of the designs is compared via two simple cost effectiveness ratios. Results In terms of precision, the most illustrative parameters of the variables are relative standard errors; their values range between 1% and 3% if the variables’ variations are low (s%<80%) and are higher in the case of higher variations. A comparison of the actual and required sample sizes shows that the actual sample sizes were deliberately set high to provide precise estimates for the majority of variables and strata. In turn, the successive inventories are statistically efficient, because they allow detecting the mean changes of variables with powers higher than 90%; the highest precision is attained for the changes of growing stock volume and the lowest for the changes of the shares of damaged trees. Two indicators of cost effectiveness also show that the time input spent for measuring one variable decreases with the complexity of inventories. Conclusion There is an increasing need for credible information on forest resources to be used for decision making and national and international policy making. Such information can be cost-efficiently provided through integrated forest resource inventories. PMID:24941120

Cost-Benefit Analysis for Biological Control Programs That Targeted Insect Pests of Eucalypts in Urban Landscapes of California.

PubMed

Paine, T D; Millar, J G; Hanks, L M; Gould, J; Wang, Q; Daane, K; Dahlsten, D L; Mcpherson, E G

2015-12-01

As well as being planted for wind breaks, landscape trees, and fuel wood, eucalypts are also widely used as urban street trees in California. They now are besieged by exotic insect herbivores of four different feeding guilds. The objective of the current analysis was to determine the return on investment from biological control programs that have targeted these pests. Independent estimates of the total number of eucalypt street trees in California ranged from a high of 476,527 trees (based on tree inventories from 135 California cities) to a low of 190,666 trees (based on 49 tree inventories). Based on a survey of 3,512 trees, the estimated mean value of an individual eucalypt was US$5,978. Thus, the total value of eucalypt street trees in California ranged from more than US$1.0 billion to more than US$2.8 billion. Biological control programs that targeted pests of eucalypts in California have cost US$2,663,097 in extramural grants and University of California salaries. Consequently, the return derived from protecting the value of this resource through the biological control efforts, per dollar expended, ranged from US$1,070 for the high estimated number of trees to US$428 for the lower estimate. The analyses demonstrate both the tremendous value of urban street trees, and the benefits that stem from successful biological control programs aimed at preserving these trees. Economic analyses such as this, which demonstrate the substantial rates of return from successful biological control of invasive pests, may play a key role in developing both grass-roots and governmental support for future urban biological control efforts. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Monitoring small pioneer trees in the forest-tundra ecotone: using multi-temporal airborne laser scanning data to model height growth.

PubMed

Hauglin, Marius; Bollandsås, Ole Martin; Gobakken, Terje; Næsset, Erik

2017-12-08

Monitoring of forest resources through national forest inventory programmes is carried out in many countries. The expected climate changes will affect trees and forests and might cause an expansion of trees into presently treeless areas, such as above the current alpine tree line. It is therefore a need to develop methods that enable the inclusion of also these areas into monitoring programmes. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) is an established tool in operational forest inventories, and could be a viable option for monitoring tasks. In the present study, we used multi-temporal ALS data with point density of 8-15 points per m 2 , together with field measurements from single trees in the forest-tundra ecotone along a 1500-km-long transect in Norway. The material comprised 262 small trees with an average height of 1.78 m. The field-measured height growth was derived from height measurements at two points in time. The elapsed time between the two measurements was 4 years. Regression models were then used to model the relationship between ALS-derived variables and tree heights as well as the height growth. Strong relationships between ALS-derived variables and tree heights were found, with R 2 values of 0.93 and 0.97 for the two points in time. The relationship between the ALS data and the field-derived height growth was weaker, with R 2 values of 0.36-0.42. A cross-validation gave corresponding results, with root mean square errors of 19 and 11% for the ALS height models and 60% for the model relating ALS data to single-tree height growth.

Large-Scale Mixed Temperate Forest Mapping at the Single Tree Level using Airborne Laser Scanning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scholl, V.; Morsdorf, F.; Ginzler, C.; Schaepman, M. E.

2017-12-01

Monitoring vegetation on a single tree level is critical to understand and model a variety of processes, functions, and changes in forest systems. Remote sensing technologies are increasingly utilized to complement and upscale the field-based measurements of forest inventories. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) systems provide valuable information in the vertical dimension for effective vegetation structure mapping. Although many algorithms exist to extract single tree segments from forest scans, they are often tuned to perform well in homogeneous coniferous or deciduous areas and are not successful in mixed forests. Other methods are too computationally expensive to apply operationally. The aim of this study was to develop a single tree detection workflow using leaf-off ALS data for the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. Aargau covers an area of over 1,400km2 and features mixed forests with various development stages and topography. Forest type was classified using random forests to guide local parameter selection. Canopy height model-based treetop maxima were detected and maintained based on the relationship between tree height and window size, used as a proxy to crown diameter. Watershed segmentation was used to generate crown polygons surrounding each maximum. The location, height, and crown dimensions of single trees were derived from the ALS returns within each polygon. Validation was performed through comparison with field measurements and extrapolated estimates from long-term monitoring plots of the Swiss National Forest Inventory within the framework of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research. This method shows promise for robust, large-scale single tree detection in mixed forests. The single tree data will aid ecological studies as well as forest management practices. Figure description: Height-normalized ALS point cloud data (top) and resulting single tree segments (bottom) on the Laegeren mountain in Switzerland.

Assessing the potential for biomass energy development in South Carolina

Treesearch

Roger C. Conner; Tim O. Adams; Tony G. Johnson

2009-01-01

An assessment of the potential for developing a sustainable biomass energy industry in South Carolina was conducted. Biomass as defined by Forest Inventory and Analysis is the aboveground dry weight of wood in the bole and limbs of live trees ≥1-inch diameter at breast height, and excludes tree foliage, seedlings, and understory...

Behavior and sensitivity of an optimal tree diameter growth model under data uncertainty

Treesearch

Don C. Bragg

2005-01-01

Using loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, white oak, and northern red oak as examples, this paper considers the behavior of potential relative increment (PRI) models of optimal tree diameter growth under data uncertainity. Recommendations on intial sample size and the PRI iteractive curve fitting process are provided. Combining different state inventories prior to PRI model...

Trends in timber use and product recovery in Pennsylvania, 1966-1977

Treesearch

Eric H. Wharton; James T. Bones

1980-01-01

Repeated timber utilization studies in Pennsylvania suggest that the recovery of growing-stock timber has improved over the years. Currently 95 percent of the inventory growing stock volume is being recovered from harvested trees. There are many opportunities to recover additional amounts of biomass from nongrowing-stock trees and logging residues. Until recently,...

Regional variation in Caribbean dry forest tree species composition

Treesearch

Janet Franklin; Julie Ripplinger; Ethan H. Freid; Humfredo Marcano-Vega; David W. Steadman

2015-01-01

How does tree species composition vary in relation to geographical and environmental gradients in a globally rare tropical/subtropical broadleaf dry forest community in the Caribbean? We analyzed data from 153 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), along with 42 plots that we sampled in the Bahamian Archipelago (...

Specific gravity and other properties of wood and bark for 156 tree species found in North America

Treesearch

Patrick D. Miles

2009-01-01

This paper reports information for the estimation of biomass for 156 tree species found in North America for use in national forest inventory applications. We present specific gravities based on average green volume as well as 12 percent moisture content volume for calculation of oven-dry biomass....

Effects of plot size on forest-type algorithm accuracy

Treesearch

James A. Westfall

2009-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program utilizes an algorithm to consistently determine the forest type for forested conditions on sample plots. Forest type is determined from tree size and species information. Thus, the accuracy of results is often dependent on the number of trees present, which is highly correlated with plot area. This research examines the...

Descriptive statistics of tree crown condition in the North Central United States

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph; Randall S. Morin; Jim Steinman

2010-01-01

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program uses visual assessments of tree crown condition to monitor changes and trends in forest health. This report describes four crown condition indicators (crown dieback, crown density, foliage transparency, and sapling crown vigor) measured in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin...

Descriptive statistics of tree crown condition in the United States Interior West

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph; Mike T. Thompson

2010-01-01

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program uses visual assessments of tree crown condition to monitor changes and trends in forest health. This report describes four crown condition indicators (crown dieback, crown density, foliage transparency, and sapling crown vigor) measured in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming between 1996 and...

Vegetation of forested uplands in the Massabesic Experimental Forest

Treesearch

Alison C. Dibble; Catherine A. Rees; Paul E. Sendak; John C. Brissette

2004-01-01

A summary of an inventory of vascular plants in the 3,700-acre Massabesic Experimental Forest in York County, Maine. We identified about 500 species and subspecies. The most common overstory trees were eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, northern red oak, and red maple. Hemlock was the most abundant tree seedling. Shrub density was greatest for beaked hazlenut,...

How to estimate forest carbon for large areas from inventory data

Treesearch

James E. Smith; Linda S. Heath; Peter B. Woodbury

2004-01-01

Carbon sequestration through forest growth provides a low-cost approach for meeting state and national goals to reduce net accumulations of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Total forest ecosystem carbon stocks include "pools" in live trees, standing dead trees, understory vegetation, down dead wood, forest floor, and soil. Determining the level of carbon stocks in...

No rest for the laurels: symbiotic invaders cause unprecedented damage to southern USA forests

Treesearch

M. A. Hughes; J. J. Riggins; F. H. Koch; A. I. Cognato; C. Anderson; J. P. Formby; T. J. Dreaden; R. C. Ploetz; J. A. Smith

2017-01-01

Laurel wilt is an extraordinarily destructive exotic tree disease in the southeastern United States that involves new-encounter hosts in the Lauraceae, an introduced vector (Xyleborus glabratus) and pathogen symbiont (Raffaelea lauricola). USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data were used to estimate that over 300 million trees of redbay (Persea borbonia...

Forest type mapping of the Interior West

Treesearch

Bonnie Ruefenacht; Gretchen G. Moisen; Jock A. Blackard

2004-01-01

This paper develops techniques for the mapping of forest types in Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The methods involve regression-tree modeling using a variety of remote sensing and GIS layers along with Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) point data. Regression-tree modeling is a fast and efficient technique of estimating variables for large data sets with high accuracy...

Developing above-ground woody biomass equations for open-grown, multiple-stemmed tree species: shelterbelt-grown Russian-olive

Treesearch

Xinhau Zhour; James R. Brandle; Michele M. Schoeneberger; Tala Awada

2007-01-01

Multiple-stemmed tree species are often used in agricultural settings, playing a significant role in natural resource conservation and carbon sequestration. Biomass estimation, whether for modeling growth under different climate scenarios, accounting for carbon sequestered, or inclusion in natural resource inventories, requires equations that can accurately describe...

Biomass of first and second rotation loblolly pine plantations in the South Carolina Coastal Plain

Treesearch

Charles A. Gresham

2006-01-01

In the South Carolina Coastal Plain, intensive loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) plantation management, without fertilization, was sustainable through two rotations as measured by biomass accumulation. Fixed plot tree inventories and destructive tree sampling of first and second rotation sections of the same plantations were used to produce area based...

RPA tree-level database users guide

Treesearch

Patrick D. Miles; Scott A. Pugh; Brad Smith; Sonja N. Oswalt

2014-01-01

The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act (RPA) of 1974 calls for a periodic assessment of the Nation's renewable resources. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the U.S. Forest Service supports the RPA effort by providing information on the forest resources of the United States. The RPA tree-level database (RPAtreeDB) was generated...

Measuring Tree Seedlings and Associated Understory Vegetation in Pennsylvania's Forests

Treesearch

William H. McWilliams; Todd W. Bowersox; Patrick H. Brose; Daniel A. Devlin; James C. Finley; Kurt W. Gottschalk; Steve Horsley; Susan L. King; Brian M. LaPoint; Tonya W. Lister; Larry H. McCormick; Gary W. Miller; Charles T. Scott; Harry Steele; Kim C. Steiner; Susan L. Stout; James A. Westfall; Robert L. White

2005-01-01

The Northeastern Research Station's Forest Inventory and Analysis (NE-FIA) unit is conducting the Pennsylvania Regeneration Study (PRS) to evaluate composition and abundance of tree seedlings and associated vegetation. Sampling methods for the PRS were tested and developed in a pilot study to determine the appropriate number of 2-m microplots needed to capture...

Ancient human disturbances may be skewing our understanding of Amazonian forests

PubMed Central

McMichael, Crystal N. H.; Matthews-Bird, Frazer; Farfan-Rios, William; Feeley, Kenneth J.

2017-01-01

Although the Amazon rainforest houses much of Earth’s biodiversity and plays a major role in the global carbon budget, estimates of tree biodiversity originate from fewer than 1,000 forest inventory plots, and estimates of carbon dynamics are derived from fewer than 200 recensus plots. It is well documented that the pre-European inhabitants of Amazonia actively transformed and modified the forest in many regions before their population collapse around 1491 AD; however, the impacts of these ancient disturbances remain entirely unaccounted for in the many highly influential studies using Amazonian forest plots. Here we examine whether Amazonian forest inventory plot locations are spatially biased toward areas with high probability of ancient human impacts. Our analyses reveal that forest inventory plots, and especially forest recensus plots, in all regions of Amazonia are located disproportionately near archaeological evidence and in areas likely to have ancient human impacts. Furthermore, regions of the Amazon that are relatively oversampled with inventory plots also contain the highest values of predicted ancient human impacts. Given the long lifespan of Amazonian trees, many forest inventory and recensus sites may still be recovering from past disturbances, potentially skewing our interpretations of forest dynamics and our understanding of how these forests are responding to global change. Empirical data on the human history of forest inventory sites are crucial for determining how past disturbances affect modern patterns of forest composition and carbon flux in Amazonian forests. PMID:28049821

Conducting tests for statistically significant differences using forest inventory data

Treesearch

James A. Westfall; Scott A. Pugh; John W. Coulston

2013-01-01

Many forest inventory and monitoring programs are based on a sample of ground plots from which estimates of forest resources are derived. In addition to evaluating metrics such as number of trees or amount of cubic wood volume, it is often desirable to make comparisons between resource attributes. To properly conduct statistical tests for differences, it is imperative...

Updating Indiana Annual Forest Inventory and Analysis Plot Data Using Eastern Broadleaf Forest Diameter Growth Models

Treesearch

Veronica C. Lessard

2001-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the North Central Research Station (NCRS), USDA Forest Service, has developed nonlinear, individual-tree, distance-independent annual diameter growth models. The models are calibrated for species groups and formulated as the product of an average diameter growth component and a modifier component. The regional models...

Determining stocking, forest type and stand-size class from forest inventory data

Treesearch

Mark H. Hansen; Jerold T. Hahn

1992-01-01

This paper describes the procedures used by North Central Forest Experiment Station's Forest Inventory and Analysis Work Unit (NCFIA) in determining stocking, forest type, and stand-size class. The stocking procedure assigns a portion of the stocking to individual trees measured on NCFIA 10-point field plots. Stand size and forest type are determined as functions...

Variable Selection Strategies for Small-area Estimation Using FIA Plots and Remotely Sensed Data

Treesearch

Andrew Lister; Rachel Riemann; James Westfall; Mike Hoppus

2005-01-01

The USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) unit maintains a network of tens of thousands of georeferenced forest inventory plots distributed across the United States. Data collected on these plots include direct measurements of tree diameter and height and other variables. We present a technique by which FIA plot data and coregistered...

Using Forest Service forest inventory and analysis data to estimate regional oak decline and oak mortality

Treesearch

Kathryn W. Kromroy; Jennifer Juzwik; Paul Castillo; Mark H. Hansen

2008-01-01

Damage and mortality data are collected as part of the US Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) ongoing assessments of the nation's timberlands. The usefulness and value of FIA tree data in assessing historical levels of oak decline and oak mortality were investigated for seven Midwestern states. The data were collected during two periodic...

Forests of eastern Oregon: an overview.

Treesearch

Sally Campbell; Dave Azuma; Dale. Weyermann

2003-01-01

This publication provides highlights of forest inventories and surveys from 1993 to 2001. About 35 percent of eastern Oregon is forested.The amount of forest land in eastern Oregon has increased by about 650,000 acres from the 1930s, with increases in juniper forest land accounting for most of the change.Thirty-one tree species were tallied in forest inventories during...

Classifying forest inventory data into species-based forest community types at broad extents: exploring tradeoffs among supervised and unsupervised approaches

Treesearch

Jennifer K. Costanza; Don Faber-Langendoen; John W. Coulston; David N. Wear

2018-01-01

Background: Knowledge of the different kinds of tree communities that currently exist can provide a baseline for assessing the ecological attributes of forests and monitoring future changes. Forest inventory data can facilitate the development of this baseline knowledge across broad extents, but they first must be classified into forest...

Determining maximum stand density index in mixed species stands for strategic-scale stocking assessments

Treesearch

Chris W. Woodall; Patrick D. Miles; John S. Vissage

2005-01-01

Stand density index (SDI), although developed for use in even-aged monocultures, has been used for assessing stand density in large-scale forest inventories containing diverse tree species and size distributions. To improve application of SDI in unevenaged, mixed species stands present in large-scale forest inventories, trends in maximum SDI across diameter classes...

K-nearest neighbor imputation of forest inventory variables in New Hampshire

Treesearch

Andrew Lister; Michael Hoppus; Raymond L. Czaplewski

2005-01-01

The k-nearest neighbor (kNN) method was used to map stand volume for a mosaic of 4 Landsat scenes covering the state of New Hampshire. Data for gross cubic foot volume and trees per acre were summarized from USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots and used as training for kNN. Six bands of...

Identifying aboveground wood fiber potentials in New York State

Treesearch

Eric H. Wharton

1984-01-01

New York forests are made up of more than just the growing stock that is measured during conventional forest inventories. A biomass inventory, completed in 1980, showed that New York commercial forest lands contain nearly 1,164.4 million green tons of aboveground tree biomass, or an average of 75.6 green tons per acre. Conventional growing stock accounted for 57...

Modeling Gypsy Moth-Related Tree Mortality Under Different Outbreak Scenarios in Interior Highlands Forests

Treesearch

Kurt W. Gottschalk; James M. Guldin; Jimmie J. Colbert

2004-01-01

A simulation was conducted to determine how growth of forests in the Interior Highlands would change under attack by the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar L.). Simulations were conducted for three different outbreak intensities using the Gypsy Moth Stand-Damage Model. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) inventory data were used as input for the simulation...

Delaware Forests 2013

Treesearch

Tonya W. Lister; Brett J. Butler; Susan J. Crocker; Cassandra M. Kurtz; Andrew J. Lister; William G. Luppold; William H. McWilliams; Patrick D. Miles; Randall S. Morin; Mark D. Nelson; Ronald J. Piva; Rachel I. Riemann; James E. Smith; James A. Westfall; Richard H. Widmann; Christopher W. Woodall

2017-01-01

This report summarizes the 2013 results of the annualized inventory of Delaware’s forests conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program. Results are based on data collected from 389 plots located across the State. There are an estimated 362,000 acres of forest land in Delaware with a total live- tree volume of 936 million cubic feet. There...

Adaptive Cluster Sampling for Forest Inventories

Treesearch

Francis A. Roesch

1993-01-01

Adaptive cluster sampling is shown to be a viable alternative for sampling forests when there are rare characteristics of the forest trees which are of interest and occur on clustered trees. The ideas of recent work in Thompson (1990) have been extended to the case in which the initial sample is selected with unequal probabilities. An example is given in which the...

Potential relative increment (PRI): a new method to empirically derive optimal tree diameter growth

Treesearch

Don C Bragg

2001-01-01

Potential relative increment (PRI) is a new method to derive optimal diameter growth equations using inventory information from a large public database. Optimal growth equations for 24 species were developed using plot and tree records from several states (Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) of the North Central US. Most species were represented by thousands of...

Dominant height-based height-diameter equations for trees in southern Indiana

Treesearch

John A., Jr. Kershaw; Robert C. Morrissey; Douglass F. Jacobs; John R. Seifert; James B. McCarter

2008-01-01

Height-diameter equations are developed based on dominant tree data collected in 1986 in 8- to 17-year-old clearcuts and the phase 2 Forest Inventory and Analysis plots on the Hoosier National Forest in south central Indiana. Two equation forms are explored: the basic, three-parameter Chapman-Richards function, and a modification of the three-parameter equation...

Minnesota's forest resources in 2005

Treesearch

Patrick D. Miles; Gary J. Brand

2007-01-01

Reports forest statistics for Minnesota based on five annual inventories from 2001 through 2005. Minnesota's total forest area is estimated at 16.3 million acres or 32 percent of the total land area of the State. The estmated total live-tree volume on forest land is 17.7 billion cubic feet or 1,085 cubic feet per acre. The estimated aboveground live-tree biomass...

Site establishment practices influence loblolly pine mortality throughout the stand rotation

Treesearch

Felipe G. Sanchez; Robert J. Eaton

2010-01-01

During a rotation, land managers need to estimate yields, update inventories, and evaluate stand dynamics. All of these factors in land management are heavily influenced by tree mortality. Tree mortality can, in turn, be influenced by land management practices from the inception of the stand and throughout the rotation. We describe the impact of organic matter removal...

Assessing alternative measures of tree canopy cover: Photo-interpreted NAIP and ground-based estimates

Treesearch

Chris Toney; Greg Liknes; Andy Lister; Dacia Meneguzzo

2012-01-01

In preparation for the development of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2011 tree canopy cover layer, a pilot project for research and method development was completed in 2010 by the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program and Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC).This paper explores one of several topics investigated during the NLCD...

Illinois's Forest Resources in 2002.

Treesearch

Earl C. Leatherberry; Gary J Brand; Dick C Little

2004-01-01

Results of the 2002 annual inventory of Illinois shows an estimated 4.3 million acres of forest land. The estimate of total volume of all live trees on forest land is 7.5 billion cubic feet. Nearly 4.1 million acres of forest land are classified as timberland. The estimate of growing-stock volume on timberland is 6.3 billion cubic feet. All live aboveground tree...

LiDAR-derived site index in the U.S. Pacihic Northwest--challenges and opportunities

Treesearch

Demetrios Gatziolis

2007-01-01

Site Index (SI), a key inventory parameter, is traditionally estimated by using costly and laborious field assessments of tree height and age. The increasing availability of reliable information on stand initiation timing and extent of planted, even-aged stands maintained in digital databases suggests that information on the height of dominant trees suffices for...

Landscape Builder: software for the creation of initial landscapes for LANDIS from FIA data

Treesearch

William Dijak

2013-01-01

I developed Landscape Builder to create spatially explicit landscapes as starting conditions for LANDIS Pro 7.0 and LANDIS II landscape forest simulation models from classified satellite imagery and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data collected over multiple years. LANDIS Pro and LANDIS II models project future landscapes by simulating tree growth, tree species...

Northeastern FIA Tree Taper Study: Current Status and Future Work

Treesearch

James A. Westfall; Charles T. Scott

2005-01-01

The northeastern unit of the Forest Inventory and Analysis program (NE-FIA) is engaged in an ongoing project to develop regionwide tree taper equations. Sampling intensity is based on NE-FIA plot data and is stratified by species, diameter class, and height class. To date, modeling research has been aimed largely at evaluating existing model forms (and hybrids thereof...

Vermont's use-value appraisal property tax program: a forest inventory and analysis

Treesearch

Paul E. Sendak; Donald F. Dennis; Donald F. Dennis

1989-01-01

A statistical report and analysis of the timberland enrolled in the Vermont Use Value Appraisal (UVA) property tax program. The study was conducted using data collected in the fourth forest survey of Vermont (1983). Estimates are presented on land area, timber volumes, tree quality, numbers of live trees, and biomass for timberland enrolled in the UVA program and for...

The relative density of forests in the United States

Treesearch

Christopher W. Woodall; Charles H. Perry; Patrick D. Miles

2006-01-01

A relative stand density assessment technique, using the mean specific gravity of all trees in a stand to predict its maximum stand density index (SDI) and subsequently its relative stand density (current SDI divided by maximum SDI), was used to estimate the relative density of forests across the United States using a national-scale forest inventory. Live tree biomass...

Place-Based Education and Geographic Information Systems: Enhancing the Spatial Awareness of Middle School Students in Maine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perkins, Nancy; Hazelton, Eric; Erickson, Jeryl; Allan, Walter

2010-01-01

Spatial literacy is a new frontier in K-12 education. This article describes a place-based introductory GIS/GPS middle school curriculum unit in which students used measuring tools, GPS units, and My World GIS software to collect physical and spatial data of trees to create a schoolyard tree inventory. Maine students completed "memory…

Atlas of current and potential future distributions of common trees of the eastern United States

Treesearch

Louis R. Iverson; Anantha M. Prasad; Betsy J. Hale; Elaine Kennedy Sutherland

1999-01-01

This atlas documents the current and possible future distribution of 80 common tree species in the Eastern United States and gives detailed information on environmental characteristics defining these distributions. Also included are outlines of life history characteristics and summary statistics for these species. Much of the data are derived from Forest Inventory and...

Tree species associations of Pinus echinata mill. over a large-scale sampling regime on the interior highlands of Arkansas

Treesearch

James F., Jr. Rosson

2007-01-01

The Interior Highlands physiographic province of Arkansas is considered the ecological center of the geographic distribution of shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.). I used data from the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program to identify the major tree species associates of P. echinata across this 66,700-...

Tree-centric mapping of forest carbon density from airborne laser scanning and hyperspectral data.

PubMed

Dalponte, Michele; Coomes, David A

2016-10-01

Forests are a major component of the global carbon cycle, and accurate estimation of forest carbon stocks and fluxes is important in the context of anthropogenic global change. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) data sets are increasingly recognized as outstanding data sources for high-fidelity mapping of carbon stocks at regional scales.We develop a tree-centric approach to carbon mapping, based on identifying individual tree crowns (ITCs) and species from airborne remote sensing data, from which individual tree carbon stocks are calculated. We identify ITCs from the laser scanning point cloud using a region-growing algorithm and identifying species from airborne hyperspectral data by machine learning. For each detected tree, we predict stem diameter from its height and crown-width estimate. From that point on, we use well-established approaches developed for field-based inventories: above-ground biomasses of trees are estimated using published allometries and summed within plots to estimate carbon density.We show this approach is highly reliable: tests in the Italian Alps demonstrated a close relationship between field- and ALS-based estimates of carbon stocks ( r 2  = 0·98). Small trees are invisible from the air, and a correction factor is required to accommodate this effect.An advantage of the tree-centric approach over existing area-based methods is that it can produce maps at any scale and is fundamentally based on field-based inventory methods, making it intuitive and transparent. Airborne laser scanning, hyperspectral sensing and computational power are all advancing rapidly, making it increasingly feasible to use ITC approaches for effective mapping of forest carbon density also inside wider carbon mapping programs like REDD++.

What Data to Use for Forest Conservation Planning? A Comparison of Coarse Open and Detailed Proprietary Forest Inventory Data in Finland

PubMed Central

Lehtomäki, Joona; Tuominen, Sakari; Toivonen, Tuuli; Leinonen, Antti

2015-01-01

The boreal region is facing intensifying resource extraction pressure, but the lack of comprehensive biodiversity data makes operative forest conservation planning difficult. Many countries have implemented forest inventory schemes and are making extensive and up-to-date forest databases increasingly available. Some of the more detailed inventory databases, however, remain proprietary and unavailable for conservation planning. Here, we investigate how well different open and proprietary forest inventory data sets suit the purpose of conservation prioritization in Finland. We also explore how much priorities are affected by using the less accurate but open data. First, we construct a set of indices for forest conservation value based on quantitative information commonly found in forest inventories. These include the maturity of the trees, tree species composition, and site fertility. Secondly, using these data and accounting for connectivity between forest types, we investigate the patterns in conservation priority. For prioritization, we use Zonation, a method and software for spatial conservation prioritization. We then validate the prioritizations by comparing them to known areas of high conservation value. We show that the overall priority patterns are relatively consistent across different data sources and analysis options. However, the coarse data cannot be used to accurately identify the high-priority areas as it misses much of the fine-scale variation in forest structures. We conclude that, while inventory data collected for forestry purposes may be useful for forest conservation purposes, it needs to be detailed enough to be able to account for more fine-scaled features of high conservation value. These results underline the importance of making detailed inventory data publicly available. Finally, we discuss how the prioritization methodology we used could be integrated into operative forest management, especially in countries in the boreal zone. PMID:26317227

What Data to Use for Forest Conservation Planning? A Comparison of Coarse Open and Detailed Proprietary Forest Inventory Data in Finland.

PubMed

Lehtomäki, Joona; Tuominen, Sakari; Toivonen, Tuuli; Leinonen, Antti

2015-01-01

The boreal region is facing intensifying resource extraction pressure, but the lack of comprehensive biodiversity data makes operative forest conservation planning difficult. Many countries have implemented forest inventory schemes and are making extensive and up-to-date forest databases increasingly available. Some of the more detailed inventory databases, however, remain proprietary and unavailable for conservation planning. Here, we investigate how well different open and proprietary forest inventory data sets suit the purpose of conservation prioritization in Finland. We also explore how much priorities are affected by using the less accurate but open data. First, we construct a set of indices for forest conservation value based on quantitative information commonly found in forest inventories. These include the maturity of the trees, tree species composition, and site fertility. Secondly, using these data and accounting for connectivity between forest types, we investigate the patterns in conservation priority. For prioritization, we use Zonation, a method and software for spatial conservation prioritization. We then validate the prioritizations by comparing them to known areas of high conservation value. We show that the overall priority patterns are relatively consistent across different data sources and analysis options. However, the coarse data cannot be used to accurately identify the high-priority areas as it misses much of the fine-scale variation in forest structures. We conclude that, while inventory data collected for forestry purposes may be useful for forest conservation purposes, it needs to be detailed enough to be able to account for more fine-scaled features of high conservation value. These results underline the importance of making detailed inventory data publicly available. Finally, we discuss how the prioritization methodology we used could be integrated into operative forest management, especially in countries in the boreal zone.

Incidence and impact of damage to Florida's timber, 1980

Treesearch

Robert L. Anderson; Joe P. McClure; Noel D. Cost; William H. Hoffard

1983-01-01

This bulletin reports survey data on agents damaging trees in Florida’s forests. Data were collected in 1978, 1979, and 1980 by the Renewable Resources Evaluation Work Unit of the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. This effort was part of the fifth inventory of the State’s forests. Considerably more information was gathered in this than in previous inventories....

Forest growth of Mississippi's north unit - A case study of the Southern Forest surveys growth estimation procedures

Treesearch

Dennis M. May

1988-01-01

This report presents the procedures by which the Southern Forest Inventory and Analysis unit estimates forest growth from permanent horizontal point samples. Inventory data from the 1977-87 survey of Mississippi's north unit were used to demonstrate how trees on the horizontal point samples are classified into one of eight components of growth and, in turn, how...

Using publically available forest inventory data in climate-based modes of tree species distribution: Examining effects of true versus altered location coordinates

Treesearch

Jacob Gibson; Gretchen Moisen; Tracey Frescino; Thomas C. Edwards

2013-01-01

Species distribution models (SDMs) were built with US Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) publicly available plot coordinates, which are altered for plot security purposes, and compared with SDMs built with true plot coordinates. Six species endemic to the western US, including four junipers (Juniperus deppeana var. deppeana, J. monosperma, J. occidentalis, J....

Characterizing forest vegetation of the Tanana Valley: what can forest inventory and analysis deliver?

Treesearch

Bethany Schulz

2015-01-01

Vegetation profile data were collected as part of a forest inventory project in the Tanana Valley in interior Alaska, providing a means of characterizing the forest vegetation. The black spruce forest type was most common, followed by Alaska paper birch, and white spruce, quaking aspen, and balsam poplar. For individual tree species, black spruce was recorded on 68...

Comparing the STEMS and AFIS growth models with respect to the uncertainty of predictions

Treesearch

Ronald E. McRoberts; Margaret R. Holdaway; Veronica C. Lessard

2000-01-01

The uncertainty in 5-, 10-, and 20-year diameter growth predictions is estimated using Monte Carlo simulations for four Lake States tree species. Two sets of diameter growth models are used: recalibrations of the STEMS models using forest inventory and analysis data, and new growth models developed as a component of an annual forest inventory system for the North...

Conterminous U.S. and Alaska Forest Type Mapping Using Forest Inventory and Analysis Data

Treesearch

B. Ruefenacht; M.V. Finco; M.D. Nelson; R. Czaplewski; E.H. Helmer; J. A. Blackard; G.R. Holden; A.J. Lister; D. Salajanu; D. Weyermann; K. Winterberger

2008-01-01

Classification-trees were used to model forest type groups and forest types for the conterminous United States and Alaska. The predictor data were a geospatial data set with a spatial resolution of 250 m developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS). The response data were plot data from the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis program. Overall...

Measuring and modeling carbon stock change estimates for US forests and uncertainties from apparent inter-annual variability

Treesearch

James E. Smith; Linda S. Heath

2015-01-01

Our approach is based on a collection of models that convert or augment the USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis program survey data to estimate all forest carbon component stocks, including live and standing dead tree aboveground and belowground biomass, forest floor (litter), down deadwood, and soil organic carbon, for each inventory plot. The data, which include...

Early assessment of the trees of the Luquillo Mountains

Treesearch

Frank H. Wadsworth

2009-01-01

This is a description of the composition of a forest in Puerto Rico almost unique in that it probably had not received human modification. It comes from a 1948 inventory of 4,570 hectares of what today is the El Yunque National Forest in the Luquillo Mountains. The inventory, preparatory to a forest management plan, was a search for sustainable level of timber volume...

Quantification of live aboveground forest biomass dynamics with Landsat time-series and field inventory data: A comparison of empirical modeling approaches

Treesearch

Scott L. Powell; Warren B. Cohen; Sean P. Healey; Robert E. Kennedy; Gretchen G. Moisen; Kenneth B. Pierce; Janet L. Ohmann

2010-01-01

Spatially and temporally explicit knowledge of biomass dynamics at broad scales is critical to understanding how forest disturbance and regrowth processes influence carbon dynamics. We modeled live, aboveground tree biomass using Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) field data and applied the models to 20+ year time-series of Landsat satellite imagery to...

Investigating Forest Inventory and Analysis-collected tree-ring data from Utah as a proxy for historical climate

Treesearch

R. Justin DeRose; W. Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang; John D. Shaw

2012-01-01

Increment cores collected as part of the periodic inventory in the Intermountain West were examined for their potential to represent growth and be a proxy for climate (precipitation) over a large region (Utah). Standardized and crossdated time-series created from pinyon pine (n=249) and Douglas-fir (n=274) increment cores displayed spatiotemporal patterns in growth...

Biomass expansion factor and root-to-shoot ratio for Pinus in Brazil.

PubMed

Sanquetta, Carlos R; Corte, Ana Pd; da Silva, Fernando

2011-09-24

The Biomass Expansion Factor (BEF) and the Root-to-Shoot Ratio (R) are variables used to quantify carbon stock in forests. They are often considered as constant or species/area specific values in most studies. This study aimed at showing tree size and age dependence upon BEF and R and proposed equations to improve forest biomass and carbon stock. Data from 70 sample Pinus spp. grown in southern Brazil trees in different diameter classes and ages were used to demonstrate the correlation between BEF and R, and forest inventory data, such as DBH, tree height and age. Total dry biomass, carbon stock and CO2 equivalent were simulated using the IPCC default values of BEF and R, corresponding average calculated from data used in this study, as well as the values estimated by regression equations. The mean values of BEF and R calculated in this study were 1.47 and 0.17, respectively. The relationship between BEF and R and the tree measurement variables were inversely related with negative exponential behavior. Simulations indicated that use of fixed values of BEF and R, either IPCC default or current average data, may lead to unreliable estimates of carbon stock inventories and CDM projects. It was concluded that accounting for the variations in BEF and R and using regression equations to relate them to DBH, tree height and age, is fundamental in obtaining reliable estimates of forest tree biomass, carbon sink and CO2 equivalent.

CREM monitoring: a wireless RF application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valencia, J. D.; Burghard, B. J.; Skorpik, J. R.; Silvers, K. L.; Schwartz, M. J.

2005-05-01

Recent security lapses within the Department of Energy laboratories prompted the establishment and implementation of additional procedures and training for operations involving classified removable electronic media (CREM) storage. In addition, the definition of CREM has been expanded and the number of CREM has increased significantly. Procedures now require that all CREM be inventoried and accounted for on a weekly basis. Weekly inventories consist of a physical comparison of each item against the reportable inventory listing. Securing and accounting for CREM is a continuous challenge for existing security systems. To address this challenge, an innovative framework, encompassing a suite of technologies, has been developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to monitor, track, and locate CREM in safes, vaults, and storage areas. This Automated Removable Media Observation and Reporting (ARMOR)framework, described in this paper, is an extension of an existing PNNL program, SecureSafe. The key attributes of systems built around the ARMOR framework include improved accountability, reduced risk of human error, improved accuracy and timeliness of inventory data, and reduced costs. ARMOR solutions require each CREM to be tagged with a unique electronically readable ID code. Inventory data is collected from tagged CREM at regular intervals and upon detection of an access event. Automated inventory collection and report generation eliminates the need for hand-written inventory sheets and allows electronic transfer of the collected inventory data to a modern electronic reporting system. An electronic log of CREM access events is maintained, providing enhanced accountability for daily/weekly checks, routine audits, and follow-up investigations.

Modeling and Assessing Insect Disturbance on Boreal Forests in the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia by Employing the FAREAST Gap Model and Local Forest Inventory and Disturbance Data.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erler, A. E.; Shuman, J. K.; Soukhavolosky, V.; Kovalev, A.; Stevens, T.; Shugart, H. H.

2008-12-01

FAREAST: an individual-based forest dynamics model was initially developed to simulate the forested region around Changbai Mountain in northern China. In recent years the model has been expanded across Siberia. The model output for biomass (tCha-1) has been verified against forest inventory data for a number of sites across Russia. With this success, an additional module for the model was written by Anton Kovalev to predict the impact of insect disturbance on the Boreal forests. This model predicts the probability of an insect outbreak occurring, and then, by assessing each individual tree in a modeled stand, predicts whether a tree will be killed as a result of insect predation. From this, a disturbance index is calculated that includes lost biomass as a result of insect disturbance and subsequent species composition. This disturbance "fingerprint" is being compared to forest inventory and insect disturbance data from the Usolsky forests in the Krasnoyarsk region of central Siberia. Silkworm disturbance is expressed in this geo- database as a percentage of trees damaged or killed in a stand. The forest inventory data allows us to calculate a biomass estimate that will be compared to the biomass outputs generated by the model post insect disturbance. The validation of simulated biomass with independent inventory data confirms that FAREAST is a robust model of Russian forest dynamics. Effective validation of the insect disturbance model will allow us to generate a more complete picture of the changing ecology of the Siberian Boreal landscape. The economic cost of lumber lost as a result of Silkworm damage has been enormous, if verified, FAREAST will afford us the opportunity to estimate the extent of that loss and predict the changing ecological dynamics of the Boreal forest system under the worlds evolving climate.

Novel Methods for Measuring LiDAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ayrey, E.; Hayes, D. J.; Fraver, S.; Weiskittel, A.; Cook, B.; Kershaw, J.

2017-12-01

The estimation of forest biometrics from airborne LiDAR data has become invaluable for quantifying forest carbon stocks, forest and wildlife ecology research, and sustainable forest management. The area-based approach is arguably the most common method for developing enhanced forest inventories from LiDAR. It involves taking a series of vertical height measurements of the point cloud, then using those measurements with field measured data to develop predictive models. Unfortunately, there is considerable variation in methodology for collecting point cloud data, which can vary in pulse density, seasonality, canopy penetrability, and instrument specifications. Today there exists a wealth of public LiDAR data, however the variation in acquisition parameters makes forest inventory prediction by traditional means unreliable across the different datasets. The goal of this project is to test a series of novel point cloud measurements developed along a conceptual spectrum of human interpretability, and then to use the best measurements to develop regional enhanced forest inventories on Northern New England's and Atlantic Canada's public LiDAR. Similarly to a field-based inventory, individual tree crowns are being segmented, and summary statistics are being used as covariates. Established competition and structural indices are being generated using each tree's relationship to one another, whilst existing allometric equations are being used to estimate diameter and biomass of each tree measured in the LiDAR. Novel metrics measuring light interception, clusteredness, and rugosity are also being measured as predictors. On the other end of the human interpretability spectrum, convolutional neural networks are being employed to directly measure both the canopy height model, and the point clouds by scanning each using two and three dimensional kernals trained to identify features useful for predicting biological attributes such as biomass. Predictive models will be trained and tested against one another using 28 different sites and over 42 different LiDAR acquisitions. The optimal model will then be used to generate regional wall-to-wall forest inventories at a 10 m resolution.

Iowa's forest resources in 2002.

Treesearch

Earl C Leatherberry; Gary J. Brand

2004-01-01

Results of the 2002 annual inventory of Iowa show an estimated 2.7 million acres of forest land. The estimate of total all live tree volume on forest land is 3.9 billion cubic feet. Nearly 2.6 million acres of forest land in Iowa are classified as timberland. The estimate of growing-stock volume on timberland is 3.0 billion cubic feet. All live aboveground tree biomass...

Applicability of predictive models of drought-induced tree mortality between the midwest and northeast United States

Treesearch

Eric J. Gustafson

2014-01-01

Regression models developed in the upper Midwest (United States) to predict drought-induced tree mortality from measures of drought (Palmer Drought Severity Index) were tested in the northeastern United States and found inadequate. The most likely cause of this result is that long drought events were rare in the Northeast during the period when inventory data were...

Where are the Black Walnut Trees in Ohio? 1996.

Treesearch

J. Michael Vasievich; Neal P. Kingsley

1996-01-01

Production of high-quality hardwoods is important in Ohio and black walnut ranks as one of the most valuable tree species in the State along with cherry, white and red oak, and ash. Ohio has more walnut growing stock volume than any other state, according to the most recently completed forest inventories in the East. The fourth and most recent measurement of Ohio?s...

The 1978 Pennsylvania Orchard and Vineyard Inventory Survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

Significant developments in the fruit industry in Pennsylvania are reported to provide basic information as a guide in the production and marketing of apples, pears, cherries, peaches, grapes, plums, prunes and nectarines. Tables show the number of growers, trees and acres by kind of fruit as well as the age of the trees, the number of barrels produced, and production by county and region.

Changes in tree species diversity after successive clearcuts in the Southern Appalachians

Treesearch

Katherine J. Elliott; Wayne T. Swank

1994-01-01

A 16 ha watershed in the Coweeta Basin was clearcut in 1939 and 1962. Vegetation was inventoried in 1934 and at about 7-year intervals to 1991. After the first clearcut, tree diversity remained high until after the second cut. Diversity based on density and basal area decreased significantly 14 years after the second clearcut and remained low through 1991. Diversity...

Equations relating compacted and uncompacted live crown ratio for common tree species in the South

Treesearch

KaDonna C. Randolph

2010-01-01

Species-specific equations to predict uncompacted crown ratio (UNCR) from compacted live crown ratio (CCR), tree length, and stem diameter were developed for 24 species and 12 genera in the southern United States. Using data from the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program, nonlinear regression was used to model UNCR with a logistic function. Model...

Timber value growth rates in New England

Treesearch

David A, Gansner; Stanford L. Arner; Thomas W. Birch; Thomas W. Birch

1990-01-01

Rates of growth in the value of standing timber can vary greatly from stand to stand and from tree to tree. In Maine, the compound annual rate of change in stand value between the two most recent forest inventories ranged from -12 to +43 percent. Faced with this kind of variation, forest managers can use help in determining financial rates of return for their woodland...

Mapping the occurrence of tree damage in the forests of the northern United States

Treesearch

Randall S. Morin; Scott A. Pugh; Jim. Steinman

2016-01-01

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program uses visual inspections of trees from bottom to top to record damage that is likely to prevent survival, reduce growth, or hinder capability to produce marketable products. This report describes the types of damage and occurrence as measured across the 24-state northern region between 2009 and 2013....

Forest dynamics in the temperate rainforests of Alaska: from individual tree to regional scales

Treesearch

Tara M. Barrett

2015-01-01

Analysis of remeasurement data from 1079 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots revealed multi-scale change occurring in the temperate rainforests of southeast Alaska. In the western half of the region, including Prince William Sound, aboveground live tree biomass and carbon are increasing at a rate of 8 ( ± 2 ) percent per decade, driven by an increase in Sitka...

Syracuse urban forest master plan: guiding the city's forest resource into the 21st century

Treesearch

David J. Nowak; Paul R. O' Connor; [Compilers

2001-01-01

The Syracuse Urban Forest Master Plan is one of the most comprehensive urban forest assessments ever developed for a city. This report combines a high-resolution digital urban cover map with field vegetation sampling data from all land uses, a 100-percent street-tree inventory, a survey of city residents regarding desirable and undesirable tree characteristics and...

Constancy and cover of plants in the Petersburg and Wrangell Districts, Tongass National Forest and associated private and other public lands, southeast Alaska.

Treesearch

Bert R. Mead

2002-01-01

This study provides a comprehensive and inclusive description and inventory of the vegetation within the Stikine area of southeast Alaska. Private and other public lands were included as well as Tongass National Forest lands contained in the Petersburg and Wrangell Ranger Districts. Previous inventories have concentrated almost exclusively on tree species within forest...

A diameter growth model for single-stem growth forms for the interior west forest inventory and analysis’s region

Treesearch

Michael T. Thompson

2015-01-01

The Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis Unit (IWFIA) will soon transition from a regional system to a national FIA system for compiling estimates of forest growth, removals, and mortality. The national system requires regional diameter-growth models to estimate diameters on trees in situations where the initial or terminal diameter is not known at the beginning...

Changes in tree species importance following harvesting disturbance in north Mississippi between 1967 and 1994

Treesearch

Andrew J. Hartsell; James F. Rosson

2007-01-01

We used continuous forest inventory data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service to study the impacts of timber harvesting on species composition and species importance in a 26-county region in north Mississippi. The region was 59 percent forested and contained 1 965 223 ha of timberland. There were 524 upland...

Combining satellite imagery with forest inventory data to assess damage severity following a major blowdown event in northern Minnesota, USA

Treesearch

Mark D. Nelson; Sean P. Healey; W. Keith Moser; Mark H. Hansen

2009-01-01

Effects of a catastrophic blowdown event in northern Minnesota, USA were assessed using field inventory data, aerial sketch maps and satellite image data processed through the North American Forest Dynamics programme. Estimates were produced for forest area and net volume per unit area of live trees pre- and post-disturbance, and for changes in volume per unit area and...

Gridded snow water equivalent reconstruction for Utah using Forest Inventory and Analysis tree-ring data

Treesearch

Daniel Barandiaran; S.-Y. Simon Wang; R. Justin DeRose

2017-01-01

Snowpack observations in the Intermountain West are sparse and short, making them difficult for use in depicting past variability and extremes. This study presents a reconstruction of April 1 snow water equivalent (SWE) for the period of 1850–1989 using increment cores collected by the U.S. Forest Service, Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis program (FIA). In...

Current forest and woodland carbon storage and flux in California: An estimate for the 2010 statewide assessment

Treesearch

Timothy A. Robards

2012-01-01

This study used USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plot data, forest growth models, wildland fire emission estimates and timber harvest data to estimate the live tree carbon storage and flux of California's forests and woodlands. Approximately 30 Tg C02e per year was estimated as the annual flux for all California forests. The forest inventory...

Continental-scale patterns of canopy tree composition and function across Amazonia.

PubMed

ter Steege, Hans; Pitman, Nigel C A; Phillips, Oliver L; Chave, Jerome; Sabatier, Daniel; Duque, Alvaro; Molino, Jean-François; Prévost, Marie-Françoise; Spichiger, Rodolphe; Castellanos, Hernán; von Hildebrand, Patricio; Vásquez, Rodolfo

2006-09-28

The world's greatest terrestrial stores of biodiversity and carbon are found in the forests of northern South America, where large-scale biogeographic patterns and processes have recently begun to be described. Seven of the nine countries with territory in the Amazon basin and the Guiana shield have carried out large-scale forest inventories, but such massive data sets have been little exploited by tropical plant ecologists. Although forest inventories often lack the species-level identifications favoured by tropical plant ecologists, their consistency of measurement and vast spatial coverage make them ideally suited for numerical analyses at large scales, and a valuable resource to describe the still poorly understood spatial variation of biomass, diversity, community composition and forest functioning across the South American tropics. Here we show, by using the seven forest inventories complemented with trait and inventory data collected elsewhere, two dominant gradients in tree composition and function across the Amazon, one paralleling a major gradient in soil fertility and the other paralleling a gradient in dry season length. The data set also indicates that the dominance of Fabaceae in the Guiana shield is not necessarily the result of root adaptations to poor soils (nodulation or ectomycorrhizal associations) but perhaps also the result of their remarkably high seed mass there as a potential adaptation to low rates of disturbance.

Continental-scale patterns of canopy tree composition and function across Amazonia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ter Steege, Hans; Pitman, Nigel C. A.; Phillips, Oliver L.; Chave, Jerome; Sabatier, Daniel; Duque, Alvaro; Molino, Jean-François; Prévost, Marie-Françoise; Spichiger, Rodolphe; Castellanos, Hernán; von Hildebrand, Patricio; Vásquez, Rodolfo

2006-09-01

The world's greatest terrestrial stores of biodiversity and carbon are found in the forests of northern South America, where large-scale biogeographic patterns and processes have recently begun to be described. Seven of the nine countries with territory in the Amazon basin and the Guiana shield have carried out large-scale forest inventories, but such massive data sets have been little exploited by tropical plant ecologists. Although forest inventories often lack the species-level identifications favoured by tropical plant ecologists, their consistency of measurement and vast spatial coverage make them ideally suited for numerical analyses at large scales, and a valuable resource to describe the still poorly understood spatial variation of biomass, diversity, community composition and forest functioning across the South American tropics. Here we show, by using the seven forest inventories complemented with trait and inventory data collected elsewhere, two dominant gradients in tree composition and function across the Amazon, one paralleling a major gradient in soil fertility and the other paralleling a gradient in dry season length. The data set also indicates that the dominance of Fabaceae in the Guiana shield is not necessarily the result of root adaptations to poor soils (nodulation or ectomycorrhizal associations) but perhaps also the result of their remarkably high seed mass there as a potential adaptation to low rates of disturbance.

Detecting early warning signals of tree mortality in boreal North America using multiscale satellite data.

PubMed

Rogers, Brendan M; Solvik, Kylen; Hogg, Edward H; Ju, Junchang; Masek, Jeffrey G; Michaelian, Michael; Berner, Logan T; Goetz, Scott J

2018-06-01

Increasing tree mortality from global change drivers such as drought and biotic infestations is a widespread phenomenon, including in the boreal zone where climate changes and feedbacks to the Earth system are relatively large. Despite the importance for science and management communities, our ability to forecast tree mortality at landscape to continental scales is limited. However, two independent information streams have the potential to inform and improve mortality forecasts: repeat forest inventories and satellite remote sensing. Time series of tree-level growth patterns indicate that productivity declines and related temporal dynamics often precede mortality years to decades before death. Plot-level productivity, in turn, has been related to satellite-based indices such as the Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Here we link these two data sources to show that early warning signals of mortality are evident in several NDVI-based metrics up to 24 years before death. We focus on two repeat forest inventories and three NDVI products across western boreal North America where productivity and mortality dynamics are influenced by periodic drought. These data sources capture a range of forest conditions and spatial resolution to highlight the sensitivity and limitations of our approach. Overall, results indicate potential to use satellite NDVI for early warning signals of mortality. Relationships are broadly consistent across inventories, species, and spatial resolutions, although the utility of coarse-scale imagery in the heterogeneous aspen parkland was limited. Longer-term NDVI data and annually remeasured sites with high mortality levels generate the strongest signals, although we still found robust relationships at sites remeasured at a typical 5 year frequency. The approach and relationships developed here can be used as a basis for improving forest mortality models and monitoring systems. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Unlocking the forest inventory data: relating individual tree performance to unmeasured environmental factors.

PubMed

Lichstein, Jeremy W; Dushoff, Jonathan; Ogle, Kiona; Chen, Anping; Purves, Drew W; Caspersen, John P; Pacala, Stephen W

2010-04-01

Geographically extensive forest inventories, such as the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, contain millions of individual tree growth and mortality records that could be used to develop broad-scale models of forest dynamics. A limitation of inventory data, however, is that individual-level measurements of light (L) and other environmental factors are typically absent. Thus, inventory data alone cannot be used to parameterize mechanistic models of forest dynamics in which individual performance depends on light, water, nutrients, etc. To overcome this limitation, we developed methods to estimate species-specific parameters (thetaG) relating sapling growth (G) to L using data sets in which G, but not L, is observed for each sapling. Our approach involves: (1) using calibration data that we collected in both eastern and western North America to quantify the probability that saplings receive different amounts of light, conditional on covariates x that can be obtained from inventory data (e.g., sapling crown class and neighborhood crowding); and (2) combining these probability distributions with observed G and x to estimate thetaG using Bayesian computational methods. Here, we present a test case using a data set in which G, L, and x were observed for saplings of nine species. This test data set allowed us to compare estimates of thetaG obtained from the standard approach (where G and L are observed for each sapling) to our method (where G and x, but not L, are observed). For all species, estimates of thetaG obtained from analyses with and without observed L were similar. This suggests that our approach should be useful for estimating light-dependent growth functions from inventory data that lack direct measurements of L. Our approach could be extended to estimate parameters relating sapling mortality to L from inventory data, as well as to deal with uncertainty in other resources (e.g., water or nutrients) or environmental factors (e.g., temperature).

Increasing biomass carbon stocks in trees outside forests in China over the last three decades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Z. D.; Hu, H. F.; Pan, Y. D.; Birdsey, R. A.; Fang, J. Y.

2014-08-01

Trees outside forests (TOF) play important roles in national economies, ecosystem services, and international efforts for mitigating climate warming. Detailed assessment of the dynamics of carbon (C) stocks in China's TOF is necessary for fully evaluating the role of the country's trees in the national C cycle. This study is the first to explore the changes in biomass C stocks of China's TOF over the last three decades, using the national forest inventory data in six periods from 1977 to 2008. According to the definition of the forest inventory, China's TOF could be categorized into three groups: woodlands, shrubberies, and trees on non-forest land (including four-side greening trees, defined in the article, and scattered trees). We estimated biomass C stocks of woodlands and trees on non-forest land by using the provincial biomass-volume conversion equations derived from the data of low-canopy forests, and estimated the biomass C stocks of shrubberies using the provincial mean biomass density. Total TOF biomass C stock increased by 62.7% from 823 Tg C (1 Tg = 1012 g) in the initial period of 1977-1981 to 1339 Tg C in the last period of 2004-2008. As a result, China's TOF have accumulated biomass C of 516 Tg during the study period, with 12, 270, and 234 Tg in woodlands, shrubberies, and trees on non-forest land, respectively. The annual biomass C sink of China's TOF averaged 19.1 Tg C yr-1, offsetting 2.1% of the contemporary fossil-fuel CO2 emissions in the country. These estimates are equal to 16.5-20.7% of the contemporary total forest biomass C stock and 27.2% of the total forest biomass C sink in the country, suggesting that TOF are substantial components in China's tree C budget.

Canopy area of large trees explains aboveground biomass variations across neotropical forest landscapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, Victoria; Saatchi, Sassan; Clark, David B.; Keller, Michael; Vincent, Grégoire; Ferraz, António; Espírito-Santo, Fernando; d'Oliveira, Marcus V. N.; Kaki, Dahlia; Chave, Jérôme

2018-06-01

Large tropical trees store significant amounts of carbon in woody components and their distribution plays an important role in forest carbon stocks and dynamics. Here, we explore the properties of a new lidar-derived index, the large tree canopy area (LCA) defined as the area occupied by canopy above a reference height. We hypothesize that this simple measure of forest structure representing the crown area of large canopy trees could consistently explain the landscape variations in forest volume and aboveground biomass (AGB) across a range of climate and edaphic conditions. To test this hypothesis, we assembled a unique dataset of high-resolution airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) and ground inventory data in nine undisturbed old-growth Neotropical forests, of which four had plots large enough (1 ha) to calibrate our model. We found that the LCA for trees greater than 27 m (˜ 25-30 m) in height and at least 100 m2 crown size in a unit area (1 ha), explains more than 75 % of total forest volume variations, irrespective of the forest biogeographic conditions. When weighted by average wood density of the stand, LCA can be used as an unbiased estimator of AGB across sites (R2 = 0.78, RMSE = 46.02 Mg ha-1, bias = -0.63 Mg ha-1). Unlike other lidar-derived metrics with complex nonlinear relations to biomass, the relationship between LCA and AGB is linear and remains unique across forest types. A comparison with tree inventories across the study sites indicates that LCA correlates best with the crown area (or basal area) of trees with diameter greater than 50 cm. The spatial invariance of the LCA-AGB relationship across the Neotropics suggests a remarkable regularity of forest structure across the landscape and a new technique for systematic monitoring of large trees for their contribution to AGB and changes associated with selective logging, tree mortality and other types of tropical forest disturbance and dynamics.

An estimate of the number of tropical tree species.

PubMed

Slik, J W Ferry; Arroyo-Rodríguez, Víctor; Aiba, Shin-Ichiro; Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia; Alves, Luciana F; Ashton, Peter; Balvanera, Patricia; Bastian, Meredith L; Bellingham, Peter J; van den Berg, Eduardo; Bernacci, Luis; da Conceição Bispo, Polyanna; Blanc, Lilian; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Boeckx, Pascal; Bongers, Frans; Boyle, Brad; Bradford, Matt; Brearley, Francis Q; Breuer-Ndoundou Hockemba, Mireille; Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh; Calderado Leal Matos, Darley; Castillo-Santiago, Miguel; Catharino, Eduardo L M; Chai, Shauna-Lee; Chen, Yukai; Colwell, Robert K; Chazdon, Robin L; Robin, Chazdon L; Clark, Connie; Clark, David B; Clark, Deborah A; Culmsee, Heike; Damas, Kipiro; Dattaraja, Handanakere S; Dauby, Gilles; Davidar, Priya; DeWalt, Saara J; Doucet, Jean-Louis; Duque, Alvaro; Durigan, Giselda; Eichhorn, Karl A O; Eisenlohr, Pedro V; Eler, Eduardo; Ewango, Corneille; Farwig, Nina; Feeley, Kenneth J; Ferreira, Leandro; Field, Richard; de Oliveira Filho, Ary T; Fletcher, Christine; Forshed, Olle; Franco, Geraldo; Fredriksson, Gabriella; Gillespie, Thomas; Gillet, Jean-François; Amarnath, Giriraj; Griffith, Daniel M; Grogan, James; Gunatilleke, Nimal; Harris, David; Harrison, Rhett; Hector, Andy; Homeier, Jürgen; Imai, Nobuo; Itoh, Akira; Jansen, Patrick A; Joly, Carlos A; de Jong, Bernardus H J; Kartawinata, Kuswata; Kearsley, Elizabeth; Kelly, Daniel L; Kenfack, David; Kessler, Michael; Kitayama, Kanehiro; Kooyman, Robert; Larney, Eileen; Laumonier, Yves; Laurance, Susan; Laurance, William F; Lawes, Michael J; Amaral, Ieda Leao do; Letcher, Susan G; Lindsell, Jeremy; Lu, Xinghui; Mansor, Asyraf; Marjokorpi, Antti; Martin, Emanuel H; Meilby, Henrik; Melo, Felipe P L; Metcalfe, Daniel J; Medjibe, Vincent P; Metzger, Jean Paul; Millet, Jerome; Mohandass, D; Montero, Juan C; de Morisson Valeriano, Márcio; Mugerwa, Badru; Nagamasu, Hidetoshi; Nilus, Reuben; Ochoa-Gaona, Susana; Onrizal; Page, Navendu; Parolin, Pia; Parren, Marc; Parthasarathy, Narayanaswamy; Paudel, Ekananda; Permana, Andrea; Piedade, Maria T F; Pitman, Nigel C A; Poorter, Lourens; Poulsen, Axel D; Poulsen, John; Powers, Jennifer; Prasad, Rama C; Puyravaud, Jean-Philippe; Razafimahaimodison, Jean-Claude; Reitsma, Jan; Dos Santos, João Roberto; Roberto Spironello, Wilson; Romero-Saltos, Hugo; Rovero, Francesco; Rozak, Andes Hamuraby; Ruokolainen, Kalle; Rutishauser, Ervan; Saiter, Felipe; Saner, Philippe; Santos, Braulio A; Santos, Fernanda; Sarker, Swapan K; Satdichanh, Manichanh; Schmitt, Christine B; Schöngart, Jochen; Schulze, Mark; Suganuma, Marcio S; Sheil, Douglas; da Silva Pinheiro, Eduardo; Sist, Plinio; Stevart, Tariq; Sukumar, Raman; Sun, I-Fang; Sunderland, Terry; Sunderand, Terry; Suresh, H S; Suzuki, Eizi; Tabarelli, Marcelo; Tang, Jangwei; Targhetta, Natália; Theilade, Ida; Thomas, Duncan W; Tchouto, Peguy; Hurtado, Johanna; Valencia, Renato; van Valkenburg, Johan L C H; Van Do, Tran; Vasquez, Rodolfo; Verbeeck, Hans; Adekunle, Victor; Vieira, Simone A; Webb, Campbell O; Whitfeld, Timothy; Wich, Serge A; Williams, John; Wittmann, Florian; Wöll, Hannsjoerg; Yang, Xiaobo; Adou Yao, C Yves; Yap, Sandra L; Yoneda, Tsuyoshi; Zahawi, Rakan A; Zakaria, Rahmad; Zang, Runguo; de Assis, Rafael L; Garcia Luize, Bruno; Venticinque, Eduardo M

2015-06-16

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher's alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼ 40,000 and ∼ 53,000, i.e., at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼ 19,000-25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼ 4,500-6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness estimates of tree-dependent taxa.

Remeasured FIA plots reveal tree-level diameter growth and tree mortality impacts of nitrogen deposition on California’s forests

Treesearch

Mark E. Fenn; Jeremy S. Fried; Haiganoush K. Preisler; Andrzej Bytnerowicz; Susan Schilling; Sarah Jovan; Olaf Kuegler

2015-01-01

The air in California’s forests spans a broad range of purity, from virtually no locally generated pollutants to highly elevated levels of pollutants in forests downwind of urban and agricultural source areas. Ten-year remeasurement data from Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots in California were used in combination with modelled atmospheric nitrogen (N)...

Live tree carbon stock equivalence of fire and fuels extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator and Forest Inventory and Analysis approaches

Treesearch

James E. Smith; Coeli M. Hoover

2017-01-01

The carbon reports in the Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE) to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) provide two alternate approaches to carbon estimates for live trees (Rebain 2010). These are (1) the FFE biomass algorithms, which are volumebased biomass equations, and (2) the Jenkins allometric equations (Jenkins and others 2003), which are diameter based. Here, we...

Evaluating sustainability: a method for assessing vegetation change in southern Missouri, U.S.A.: 1820-2003

Treesearch

W. Keith Moser; Mark H. Hansen; Mark A. Hatfield; Timothy A. Nigh

2006-01-01

The General Land Office of the United States of America surveyed the state of Missouri during the first half of the 1800s. Frequently relying on witness trees to mark corners of surveyed units, surveyors also recorded other trees situated on or near the survey lines. Using plot-level data from inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station...

An analytical method to assess spruce beetle impacts on white spruce resources, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.

Treesearch

Willem W.S. van Hees

1992-01-01

Forest inventory data collected in 1987 fTom sample plots established on the Kenai Peninsula were analyzed to provide point-in-time estimates of the trend and current status of a spruce beetle infestation. Ground plots were categorized by stage of infestation. Estimates of numbers of live and dead white spruce trees, cubic-foot volume in those trees, and areal extent...

Towards the harmonization between National Forest Inventory and Forest Condition Monitoring. Consistency of plot allocation and effect of tree selection methods on sample statistics in Italy.

PubMed

Gasparini, Patrizia; Di Cosmo, Lucio; Cenni, Enrico; Pompei, Enrico; Ferretti, Marco

2013-07-01

In the frame of a process aiming at harmonizing National Forest Inventory (NFI) and ICP Forests Level I Forest Condition Monitoring (FCM) in Italy, we investigated (a) the long-term consistency between FCM sample points (a subsample of the first NFI, 1985, NFI_1) and recent forest area estimates (after the second NFI, 2005, NFI_2) and (b) the effect of tree selection method (tree-based or plot-based) on sample composition and defoliation statistics. The two investigations were carried out on 261 and 252 FCM sites, respectively. Results show that some individual forest categories (larch and stone pine, Norway spruce, other coniferous, beech, temperate oaks and cork oak forests) are over-represented and others (hornbeam and hophornbeam, other deciduous broadleaved and holm oak forests) are under-represented in the FCM sample. This is probably due to a change in forest cover, which has increased by 1,559,200 ha from 1985 to 2005. In case of shift from a tree-based to a plot-based selection method, 3,130 (46.7%) of the original 6,703 sample trees will be abandoned, and 1,473 new trees will be selected. The balance between exclusion of former sample trees and inclusion of new ones will be particularly unfavourable for conifers (with only 16.4% of excluded trees replaced by new ones) and less for deciduous broadleaves (with 63.5% of excluded trees replaced). The total number of tree species surveyed will not be impacted, while the number of trees per species will, and the resulting (plot-based) sample composition will have a much larger frequency of deciduous broadleaved trees. The newly selected trees have-in general-smaller diameter at breast height (DBH) and defoliation scores. Given the larger rate of turnover, the deciduous broadleaved part of the sample will be more impacted. Our results suggest that both a revision of FCM network to account for forest area change and a plot-based approach to permit statistical inference and avoid bias in the tree sample composition in terms of DBH (and likely age and structure) are desirable in Italy. As the adoption of a plot-based approach will keep a large share of the trees formerly selected, direct tree-by-tree comparison will remain possible, thus limiting the impact on the time series comparability. In addition, the plot-based design will favour the integration with NFI_2.

Estimating Stand Height and Tree Density in Pinus taeda plantations using in-situ data, airborne LiDAR and k-Nearest Neighbor Imputation.

PubMed

Silva, Carlos Alberto; Klauberg, Carine; Hudak, Andrew T; Vierling, Lee A; Liesenberg, Veraldo; Bernett, Luiz G; Scheraiber, Clewerson F; Schoeninger, Emerson R

2018-01-01

Accurate forest inventory is of great economic importance to optimize the entire supply chain management in pulp and paper companies. The aim of this study was to estimate stand dominate and mean heights (HD and HM) and tree density (TD) of Pinus taeda plantations located in South Brazil using in-situ measurements, airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and the non- k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) imputation. Forest inventory attributes and LiDAR derived metrics were calculated at 53 regular sample plots and we used imputation models to retrieve the forest attributes at plot and landscape-levels. The best LiDAR-derived metrics to predict HD, HM and TD were H99TH, HSD, SKE and HMIN. The Imputation model using the selected metrics was more effective for retrieving height than tree density. The model coefficients of determination (adj.R2) and a root mean squared difference (RMSD) for HD, HM and TD were 0.90, 0.94, 0.38m and 6.99, 5.70, 12.92%, respectively. Our results show that LiDAR and k-NN imputation can be used to predict stand heights with high accuracy in Pinus taeda. However, furthers studies need to be realized to improve the accuracy prediction of TD and to evaluate and compare the cost of acquisition and processing of LiDAR data against the conventional inventory procedures.

Tree traits and canopy closure data from an experiment with 34 planted species native to Sabah, Borneo

PubMed Central

Gustafsson, Malin; Gustafsson, Lena; Alloysius, David; Falck, Jan; Yap, Sauwai; Karlsson, Anders; Ilstedt, Ulrik

2016-01-01

The data presented in this paper is supporting the research article “Life history traits predict the response to increased light among 33 tropical rainforest tree species” [3]. We show basic growth and survival data collected over the 6 years duration of the experiment, as well as data from traits inventories covering 12 tree traits collected prior to and after a canopy reduction treatment in 2013. Further, we also include canopy closure and forest light environment data from measurements with hemispherical photographs before and after the treatment. PMID:26900591

Analyzing Forest Inventory Data from Geo-Located Photographs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toivanen, Timo; Tergujeff, Renne; Andersson, Kaj; Molinier, Matthieu; Häme, Tuomas

2015-04-01

Forests are widely monitored using a variety of remote sensing data and techniques. Remote sensing offers benefits compared to traditional in-situ forest inventories made by experts. One of the main benefits is that the number of ground reference plots can be significantly reduced. Remote sensing of forests can provide reduced costs and time requirement compared to full forest inventories. The availability of ground reference data has been a bottleneck in remote sensing analysis over wide forested areas, as the acquisition of this data is an expensive and slow process. In this paper we present a tool for estimating forest inventory data from geo-located photographs. The tool can be used to estimate in-situ forest inventory data including estimated biomass, tree species, tree height and diameter. The collected in-situ forest measurements can be utilized as a ground reference material for spaceborne or airborne remote sensing data analysis. The GPS based location information with measured forest data makes it possible to introduce measurements easily as in-situ reference data. The central projection geometry of digital photographs allows the use of the relascope principle [1] to measure the basal area of stems per area unit, a variable very closely associated with tree biomass. Relascope is applied all over the world for forest inventory. Experiments with independent ground reference data have shown that in-situ data analysed from photographs can be utilised as reference data for satellite image analysis. The concept was validated by comparing mobile measurements with 54 independent ground reference plots from the Hyytiälä forest research station in Finland [2]. Citizen scientists could provide the manpower for analysing photographs from forests on a global level and support researchers working on tasks related to forests. This low-cost solution can also increase the coverage of forest management plans, particularly in regions where possibilities to invest on expensive planning work are limited. References [1] Bitterlich, W. (1984) The Relascope Idea: Relative Measurements in Forestry, Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, 1984. [2] Molinier, M., Hame, T., Toivanen, T., Andersson, K., Mutanen, T., Relasphone -- Mobile phone and interactive applications to collect ground reference biomass data for satellite image analysis, Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2014 IEEE International, pp. 836-839, 13-18 July 2014, doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2014.6946554

Disturbance legacies and climate jointly drive tree growth and mortality in an intensively studied boreal forest.

PubMed

Bond-Lamberty, Ben; Rocha, Adrian V; Calvin, Katherine; Holmes, Bruce; Wang, Chuankuan; Goulden, Michael L

2014-01-01

Most North American forests are at some stage of post-disturbance regrowth, subject to a changing climate, and exhibit growth and mortality patterns that may not be closely coupled to annual environmental conditions. Distinguishing the possibly interacting effects of these processes is necessary to put short-term studies in a longer term context, and particularly important for the carbon-dense, fire-prone boreal forest. The goals of this study were to combine dendrochronological sampling, inventory records, and machine-learning algorithms to understand how tree growth and death have changed at one highly studied site (Northern Old Black Spruce, NOBS) in the central Canadian boreal forest. Over the 1999-2012 inventory period, mean tree diameter increased even as stand density and basal area declined significantly. Tree mortality averaged 1.4 ± 0.6% yr-(1), with most mortality occurring in medium-sized trees; new recruitment was minimal. There have been at least two, and probably three, significant influxes of new trees since stand initiation, but none in recent decades. A combined tree ring chronology constructed from sampling in 2001, 2004, and 2012 showed several periods of extreme growth depression, with increased mortality lagging depressed growth by ~5 years. Higher minimum and maximum air temperatures exerted a negative influence on tree growth, while precipitation and climate moisture index had a positive effect; both current- and previous-year data exerted significant effects. Models based on these variables explained 23-44% of the ring-width variability. We suggest that past climate extremes led to significant mortality still visible in the current forest structure, with decadal dynamics superimposed on slower patterns of fire and succession. These results have significant implications for our understanding of previous work at NOBS, the carbon sequestration capability of old-growth stands in a disturbance-prone landscape, and the sustainable management of regional forests in a changing climate.

Changes in composition, structure and aboveground biomass over seventy-six years (1930-2006) in the Black Rock Forest, Hudson Highlands, southeastern New York State.

PubMed

Schuster, W S F; Griffin, K L; Roth, H; Turnbull, M H; Whitehead, D; Tissue, D T

2008-04-01

We sought to quantify changes in tree species composition, forest structure and aboveground forest biomass (AGB) over 76 years (1930-2006) in the deciduous Black Rock Forest in southeastern New York, USA. We used data from periodic forest inventories, published floras and a set of eight long-term plots, along with species-specific allometric equations to estimate AGB and carbon content. Between the early 1930s and 2000, three species were extirpated from the forest (American elm (Ulmus americana L.), paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) and black spruce (Picea mariana (nigra) (Mill.) BSP)) and seven species invaded the forest (non-natives tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle) and white poplar (Populus alba L.) and native, generally southerly distributed, southern catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides Walt.), cockspur hawthorn (Crataegus crus-galli L.), red mulberry (Morus rubra L.), eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides Bartr.) and slippery elm (Ulmus rubra Muhl.)). Forest canopy was dominated by red oak and chestnut oak, but the understory tree community changed substantially from mixed oak-maple to red maple-black birch. Density decreased from an average of 1500 to 735 trees ha(-1), whereas basal area doubled from less than 15 m(2) ha(-1) to almost 30 m(2) ha(-1) by 2000. Forest-wide mean AGB from inventory data increased from about 71 Mg ha(-1) in 1930 to about 145 Mg ha(-1) in 1985, and mean AGB on the long-term plots increased from 75 Mg ha(-1) in 1936 to 218 Mg ha(-1) in 1998. Over 76 years, red oak (Quercus rubra L.) canopy trees stored carbon at about twice the rate of similar-sized canopy trees of other species. However, there has been a significant loss of live tree biomass as a result of canopy tree mortality since 1999. Important constraints on long-term biomass increment have included insect outbreaks and droughts.

Inventorying and Monitoring of Tropical Dry Forests Tree Diversity in Jalisco, Mexico Using a Geographical Information System

Treesearch

Efren Hernandez-Alvarez; Dieter R. Pelz; Carlos Rodriguez Franco

2006-01-01

Tropical dry forests in Mexico are an outstanding natural resource, due to the large surface area they cover. This ecosystem can be found from Baja California Norte to Chiapas on the eastern coast of the country. On the Gulf of Mexico side it grows from Tamaulipas to Yucatan. This is an ecosystem that is home to a wide diversity of plants, which include 114 tree...

Mapping forest structure and composition from low-density LiDAR for informed forest, fuel, and fire management at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, USA

Treesearch

Andrew T. Hudak; Benjamin C. Bright; Scott M. Pokswinski; E. Louise Loudermilk; Joseph J. O' Brien; Benjamin S. Hornsby; Carine Klauberg; Carlos A. Silva

2016-01-01

Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) in Florida, in the United States, conserves a large reservoir of native longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) stands that land managers maintain by using frequent fires. We predicted tree density, basal area, and dominant tree species from 195 forest inventory plots, low-density airborne LiDAR, and Landsat data available across the entirety...

An Empirical Determination of Tasks Essential to Successful Performance as a Tree Service Worker. Determination of a Common Core of Basic Skills in Agribusiness and Natural Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waddy, Paul H.; And Others

To improve vocational educational programs in agriculture, occupational information on a common core of basic skills within the occupational area of the tree service worker is presented in the revised task inventory survey. The purpose of the occupational survey was to identify a common core of basic skills which are performed and are essential…

Fifty-year impacts of the beech bark disease in the Bartlett Experimental Forest, New Hampshire

Treesearch

William B. Leak

2006-01-01

Records from the early 1950s on the Bartlett Experimental Forest in New Hampshire showed that the percentage of American beech trees infected with heavy beech scale and Nectria was up to the 80 to 90% range. An inventory of beech bark disease conditions in three stands in 2004 showed that an older, uneven-aged stand managed by individual tree selection for 50 years had...

Using Lidar and Radar measurements to constrain predictions of forest ecosystem structure and function.

PubMed

Antonarakis, Alexander S; Saatchi, Sassan S; Chazdon, Robin L; Moorcroft, Paul R

2011-06-01

Insights into vegetation and aboveground biomass dynamics within terrestrial ecosystems have come almost exclusively from ground-based forest inventories that are limited in their spatial extent. Lidar and synthetic-aperture Radar are promising remote-sensing-based techniques for obtaining comprehensive measurements of forest structure at regional to global scales. In this study we investigate how Lidar-derived forest heights and Radar-derived aboveground biomass can be used to constrain the dynamics of the ED2 terrestrial biosphere model. Four-year simulations initialized with Lidar and Radar structure variables were compared against simulations initialized from forest-inventory data and output from a long-term potential-vegtation simulation. Both height and biomass initializations from Lidar and Radar measurements significantly improved the representation of forest structure within the model, eliminating the bias of too many large trees that arose in the potential-vegtation-initialized simulation. The Lidar and Radar initializations decreased the proportion of larger trees estimated by the potential vegetation by approximately 20-30%, matching the forest inventory. This resulted in improved predictions of ecosystem-scale carbon fluxes and structural dynamics compared to predictions from the potential-vegtation simulation. The Radar initialization produced biomass values that were 75% closer to the forest inventory, with Lidar initializations producing canopy height values closest to the forest inventory. Net primary production values for the Radar and Lidar initializations were around 6-8% closer to the forest inventory. Correcting the Lidar and Radar initializations for forest composition resulted in improved biomass and basal-area dynamics as well as leaf-area index. Correcting the Lidar and Radar initializations for forest composition and fine-scale structure by combining the remote-sensing measurements with ground-based inventory data further improved predictions, suggesting that further improvements of structural and carbon-flux metrics will also depend on obtaining reliable estimates of forest composition and accurate representation of the fine-scale vertical and horizontal structure of plant canopies.

An analysis of mortality inventory tally using large plots compared to tally using small plot clusters

Treesearch

Vernon J. LaBau; John W. Hazard

2000-01-01

During an inventory to assess spruce bark beetle impact on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska, 5-year mortality estimates were made for all growing-stock trees on 0.6 ha areas, on 0.4 ha areas, and on a cluster of four 1/60-ha subplots. The analysis of the results of the comparison between cluster data and the larger plot data highlighted some of the problems...

A net volume equation for Northeastern Minnesota.

Treesearch

Gerhard K. Raile

1980-01-01

Describes a net volume equation for northeastern Minnesota developed as part of the 1977 Minnesota Forest Inventory. Equation coefficients are presented by species groupings for both cubic foot and board foot volumes for five tree classes.

Tropical forest biomass estimation from truncated stand tables.

Treesearch

A. J. R. Gillespie; S. Brown; A. E. Lugo

1992-01-01

Total aboveground forest biomass may be estimated through a variety of techniques based on commercial inventory stand and stock tables. Stand and stock tables from tropical countries commonly omit trees bellow a certain commercial limit.

Disturbance legacies and climate jointly drive tree growth and mortality in an intensively studied boreal forest

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bond-Lamberty, Benjamin; Rocha, Adrian; Calvin, Katherine V.

2014-01-01

How will regional growth and mortality change with even relatively small climate shifts, even independent of catastrophic disturbances? This question is particularly acute for the North American boreal forest, which is carbon-dense and subject The goals of this study were to combine dendrochronological sampling, inventory records, and machine-learning algorithms to understand how tree growth and death have changed at one highly studied site (Northern Old Black Spruce, NOBS) in the central Canadian boreal forest. Over the 1999-2012 inventory period, mean DBH increased even as stand density and basal area declined significantly from 41.3 to 37.5 m2 ha-1. Tree mortality averagedmore » 1.4±0.6% yr-1, with most mortality occurring in medium-sized trees. A combined tree ring chronology constructed from 2001, 2004, and 2012 sampling showed several periods of extreme growth depression, with increased mortality lagging depressed growth by ~5 years. Minimum and maximum air temperatures exerted a negative influence on tree growth, while precipitation and climate moisture index had a positive effect; both current- and previous-year data exerted significant effects. Models based on these variables explained 23-44% of the ring-width variability. There have been at least one, and probably two, significant recruitment episodes since stand initiation, and we infer that past climate extremes led to significant NOBS mortality still visible in the current forest structure. These results imply that a combination of successional and demographic processes, along with mortality driven by abiotic factors, continue to affect the stand, with significant implications for our understanding of previous work at NOBS and the sustainable management of regional forests.« less

An estimate of the number of tropical tree species

PubMed Central

Slik, J. W. Ferry; Arroyo-Rodríguez, Víctor; Aiba, Shin-Ichiro; Alvarez-Loayza, Patricia; Alves, Luciana F.; Ashton, Peter; Balvanera, Patricia; Bastian, Meredith L.; Bellingham, Peter J.; van den Berg, Eduardo; Bernacci, Luis; da Conceição Bispo, Polyanna; Blanc, Lilian; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Boeckx, Pascal; Bongers, Frans; Boyle, Brad; Bradford, Matt; Brearley, Francis Q.; Breuer-Ndoundou Hockemba, Mireille; Bunyavejchewin, Sarayudh; Calderado Leal Matos, Darley; Castillo-Santiago, Miguel; Catharino, Eduardo L. M.; Chai, Shauna-Lee; Chen, Yukai; Colwell, Robert K.; Chazdon, Robin L.; Clark, Connie; Clark, David B.; Clark, Deborah A.; Culmsee, Heike; Damas, Kipiro; Dattaraja, Handanakere S.; Dauby, Gilles; Davidar, Priya; DeWalt, Saara J.; Doucet, Jean-Louis; Duque, Alvaro; Durigan, Giselda; Eichhorn, Karl A. O.; Eisenlohr, Pedro V.; Eler, Eduardo; Ewango, Corneille; Farwig, Nina; Feeley, Kenneth J.; Ferreira, Leandro; Field, Richard; de Oliveira Filho, Ary T.; Fletcher, Christine; Forshed, Olle; Franco, Geraldo; Fredriksson, Gabriella; Gillespie, Thomas; Gillet, Jean-François; Amarnath, Giriraj; Griffith, Daniel M.; Grogan, James; Gunatilleke, Nimal; Harris, David; Harrison, Rhett; Hector, Andy; Homeier, Jürgen; Imai, Nobuo; Itoh, Akira; Jansen, Patrick A.; Joly, Carlos A.; de Jong, Bernardus H. J.; Kartawinata, Kuswata; Kearsley, Elizabeth; Kelly, Daniel L.; Kenfack, David; Kessler, Michael; Kitayama, Kanehiro; Kooyman, Robert; Larney, Eileen; Laumonier, Yves; Laurance, Susan; Laurance, William F.; Lawes, Michael J.; do Amaral, Ieda Leao; Letcher, Susan G.; Lindsell, Jeremy; Lu, Xinghui; Mansor, Asyraf; Marjokorpi, Antti; Martin, Emanuel H.; Meilby, Henrik; Melo, Felipe P. L.; Metcalfe, Daniel J.; Medjibe, Vincent P.; Metzger, Jean Paul; Millet, Jerome; Mohandass, D.; Montero, Juan C.; de Morisson Valeriano, Márcio; Mugerwa, Badru; Nagamasu, Hidetoshi; Nilus, Reuben; Ochoa-Gaona, Susana; Onrizal; Page, Navendu; Parolin, Pia; Parren, Marc; Parthasarathy, Narayanaswamy; Paudel, Ekananda; Permana, Andrea; Piedade, Maria T. F.; Pitman, Nigel C. A.; Poorter, Lourens; Poulsen, Axel D.; Poulsen, John; Powers, Jennifer; Prasad, Rama C.; Puyravaud, Jean-Philippe; Razafimahaimodison, Jean-Claude; Reitsma, Jan; dos Santos, João Roberto; Roberto Spironello, Wilson; Romero-Saltos, Hugo; Rovero, Francesco; Rozak, Andes Hamuraby; Ruokolainen, Kalle; Rutishauser, Ervan; Saiter, Felipe; Saner, Philippe; Santos, Braulio A.; Santos, Fernanda; Sarker, Swapan K.; Satdichanh, Manichanh; Schmitt, Christine B.; Schöngart, Jochen; Schulze, Mark; Suganuma, Marcio S.; Sheil, Douglas; da Silva Pinheiro, Eduardo; Sist, Plinio; Stevart, Tariq; Sukumar, Raman; Sun, I.-Fang; Sunderland, Terry; Suresh, H. S.; Suzuki, Eizi; Tabarelli, Marcelo; Tang, Jangwei; Targhetta, Natália; Theilade, Ida; Thomas, Duncan W.; Tchouto, Peguy; Hurtado, Johanna; Valencia, Renato; van Valkenburg, Johan L. C. H.; Van Do, Tran; Vasquez, Rodolfo; Verbeeck, Hans; Adekunle, Victor; Vieira, Simone A.; Webb, Campbell O.; Whitfeld, Timothy; Wich, Serge A.; Williams, John; Wittmann, Florian; Wöll, Hannsjoerg; Yang, Xiaobo; Adou Yao, C. Yves; Yap, Sandra L.; Yoneda, Tsuyoshi; Zahawi, Rakan A.; Zakaria, Rahmad; Zang, Runguo; de Assis, Rafael L.; Garcia Luize, Bruno; Venticinque, Eduardo M.

2015-01-01

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher’s alpha and an approximate pantropical stem total to estimate the minimum number of tropical forest tree species to fall between ∼40,000 and ∼53,000, i.e., at the high end of previous estimates. Contrary to common assumption, the Indo-Pacific region was found to be as species-rich as the Neotropics, with both regions having a minimum of ∼19,000–25,000 tree species. Continental Africa is relatively depauperate with a minimum of ∼4,500–6,000 tree species. Very few species are shared among the African, American, and the Indo-Pacific regions. We provide a methodological framework for estimating species richness in trees that may help refine species richness estimates of tree-dependent taxa. PMID:26034279

GuiaTreeKey, a multi-access electronic key to identify tree genera in French Guiana.

PubMed

Engel, Julien; Brousseau, Louise; Baraloto, Christopher

2016-01-01

The tropical rainforest of Amazonia is one of the most species-rich ecosystems on earth, with an estimated 16000 tree species. Due to this high diversity, botanical identification of trees in the Amazon is difficult, even to genus, often requiring the assistance of parataxonomists or taxonomic specialists. Advances in informatics tools offer a promising opportunity to develop user-friendly electronic keys to improve Amazonian tree identification. Here, we introduce an original multi-access electronic key for the identification of 389 tree genera occurring in French Guiana terra-firme forests, based on a set of 79 morphological characters related to vegetative, floral and fruit characters. Its purpose is to help Amazonian tree identification and to support the dissemination of botanical knowledge to non-specialists, including forest workers, students and researchers from other scientific disciplines. The electronic key is accessible with the free access software Xper ², and the database is publicly available on figshare: https://figshare.com/s/75d890b7d707e0ffc9bf (doi: 10.6084/m9.figshare.2682550).

7 CFR 301.75-17 - Funds for the replacement of certified citrus nursery stock.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

...) ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE DOMESTIC QUARANTINE NOTICES Citrus... destruction of the trees and its accompanying inventory that describes the number and type of the certified...

Tree Growth and Mortality in a Southern Appalachian Deciduous Forest Following Extended Wet and Dry Periods

Treesearch

Barton D. Clinton; J. Alan Yeakley; David E. Apsley

2003-01-01

Abstract: We inventoried two 1-ha plots on opposing watersheds (WS2–WS-S, WS18–WS-N) three times (1983, 1989, 1998) over a 16-year period to contrast how differing precipitation (P) regimes affect tree mortality. From 1983 to 1989, annual precipitation averaged 16.5% less than the 64-year mean; from 1989 to 1998, it averaged 12.2% above the mean. In...

Construct Troop Formation Center Environmental Assessment Cape Cod Air Force Station, Massachusetts

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-09-01

Endangered Species Program (MNHESP) conducted a floristic inventory of Cape Cod AFS. Two naturally occurring pine barren vegetation communities were...identified on Cape Cod AFS, pitch pine – scrub oak barren and northern pine barren with oak trees. The majority of the area along the access road...just north of the installation is northern pine barren with oak trees. Pitch pine and scarlet oak dominate the area with white oak, black oak, and

[Preliminary plant inventory of the palm-swamps in the Caribbean of Costa Rica and Nicaragua].

PubMed

Rueda, Ricardo; Jarquín, Orlando; Munguía, Blanca; Reyes, Aquiles; Coronado, Indiana

2013-09-01

In the Caribbean slope of Isthmian Central America, plant associations dominated by the palms Raphia taedigera and Manicaria saccifera develop in poorly drained or waterlogged soils. These associations are known locally as yolillales or palm-swamps, although there are differences in the forest structure and plant diversity associated with both palm species. In this paper, we report the results of a preliminary inventory of tree species found in eight palm-swamps at five locations in southeastern Nicaragua and northeastern Costa Rica. Our data reveal low tree diversity in these swamps with only 60 species accounted in them. This figure is equivalent to close to 8% of the plant species known for this region. In general, R. taedigera dominates flooded areas with extensive hydroperiods and lower floristic diversity, while M. saccifera is often found in flooded forests with more structure and diversity.

Structure and tree species composition in different habitats of savanna used by indigenous people in the Northern Brazilian Amazon.

PubMed

de Oliveira, Rodrigo Leonardo Costa; Farias, Hugo Leonardo Sousa; Perdiz, Ricardo de Oliveira; Scudeller, Veridiana Vizoni; Imbrozio Barbosa, Reinaldo

2017-01-01

Woody plant diversity from the Amazonian savannas has been poorly quantified. In order to improve the knowledge on wood plants of these regional ecosystems, a tree inventory was carried out in four different habitats used by indigenous people living in the savanna areas of the Northern Brazilian Amazon. The habitats were divided into two types (or groups) of vegetation formations: forest (riparian forest, forest island, and buritizal = Mauritia palm formation) and non-forest (typical savanna). The inventory was carried out in two hectares established in the Darora Indigenous Community region, north of the state of Roraima. The typical savanna is the most densely populated area (709 stems ha -1 ); however, it has the lowest tree species richness (nine species, seven families) in relation to typical forest habitats: riparian forest (22 species, 13 families and 202 stems ha -1 ), forest islands (13 species, 10 families and 264 stems ha -1 ), and buritizal (19 species, 15 families and 600 stems ha -1 ). The tree structure (density and dominance) of the forest habitats located in the savanna areas studied in this work is smaller in relation to forest habitats derived from continuous areas of other parts of the Amazon. These environments are derived from Paleoclimatic fragmentation, and are currently affected by the impact of intensive use of natural resources as timberselective logging and some land conversion for agriculture.

A Hierarchical Analysis of Tree Growth and Environmental Drivers Across Eastern US Temperate Forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mantooth, J.; Dietze, M.

2014-12-01

Improving predictions of how forests in the eastern United States will respond to future global change requires a better understanding of the drivers of variability in tree growth rates. Current inventory data lack the temporal resolution to characterize interannual variability, while existing growth records lack the extent required to assess spatial scales of variability. Therefore, we established a network of forest inventory plots across ten sites across the eastern US, and measured growth in adult trees using increment cores. Sites were chosen to maximize climate space explored, while within sites, plots were spread across primary environmental gradients to explore landscape-level variability in growth. Using the annual growth record available from tree cores, we explored the responses of trees to multiple environmental covariates over multiple spatial and temporal scales. We hypothesized that within and across sites growth rates vary among species, and that intraspecific growth rates increase with temperature along a species' range. We also hypothesized that trees show synchrony in growth responses to landscape-scale climatic changes. Initial analyses of growth increments indicate that across sites, trees with intermediate shade tolerance, e.g. Red Oak (Quercus rubra), tend to have the highest growth rates. At the site level, there is evidence for synchrony in response to large-scale climatic events (e.g. prolonged drought and above average temperatures). However, growth responses to climate at the landscape scale have yet to be detected. Our current analysis utilizes hierarchical Bayesian state-space modeling to focus on growth responses of adult trees to environmental covariates at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This predictive model of tree growth currently incorporates observed effects at the individual, plot, site, and landscape scale. Current analysis using this model shows a potential slowing of growth in the past decade for two sites in the northeastern US (Harvard Forest and Bartlett Experimental Forest), however more work is required to determine the robustness of this trend. Finally, these observations are being incorporated into ecosystem models using the Brown Dog informatics tools and the Predictive Ecosystem Analyzer (PEcAn) data assimilation workflow.

Inventory of forest and rangeland resources, including forest stress. [Atlanta, Georgia, Black Hills, and Manitou, Colorado test sites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heller, R. C.; Aldrich, R. C.; Weber, F. P.; Driscoll, R. S. (Principal Investigator)

1974-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Some current beetle-killed ponderosa pine can be detected on S190-B photography imaged over the Bear Lodge mountains in the Black Hills National Forest. Detections were made on SL-3 imagery (September 13, 1973) using a zoom lens microscope to view the photography. At this time correlations have not been made to all of the known infestation spots in the Bear Lodge mountains; rather, known infestations have been located on the SL-3 imagery. It was determined that the beetle-killed trees were current kills by stereo viewing of SL-3 imagery on one side and SL-2 on the other. A successful technique was developed for mapping current beetle-killed pine using MSS imagery from mission 247 flown by the C-130 over the Black Hills test site in September 1973. Color enhancement processing on the NASA/JSC, DAS system using three MSS channels produced an excellent quality detection map for current kill pine. More importantly it provides a way to inventory the dead trees by relating PCM counts to actual numbers of dead trees.

Applicability of Landsat TM data for inventorying and monitoring of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) plantations in Selangor, Malaysia: Linkages to policies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suratman, Mohd Nazip

2003-06-01

Rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis (Wild ex Adr. De Juss) Muell Arg.) plantations in Malaysia are important sources of natural rubber and wood products. Effective management and appropriate policy for these resources require reliable information on resource dynamics and forecasts of resource availability. The need for inventories and monitoring systems prompted this research into utilising ground information and satellite imagery for developing methods for forest plantation inventory. Monitoring procedures were developed using three dates of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery. The specific objectives of the research were: (1) to develop an effective method for inventorying rubber tree plantations using an appropriate combination of satellite imagery and ground sampling in the State of Selangor, Malaysia; (2) to demonstrate the application of a Landsat TM-based rubber volume model in an extended area of rubber plantations south of Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia; (3) to develop an operational methodology for monitoring land use/cover change, with a primary focus on rubber plantations; and (4) to identify relationships between the primary drivers of resource change and policies, and examine the evidence of policies---rubber area change linkages in the study area. Reasonably accurate predictions of the volume, age, and area of rubber plantations were obtained from Landsat TM data. The use of supervised image classification and an image segmentation approach for rubber volume model application showed better performance for volume prediction than a combined land use/cover and rubber volume classification technique, thus providing a useful tool for displaying rubber stand volume within segments or spatial units across the landscape. The combined use of a time series of Landsat TM imagery, modified postclassification change detection, and geographic information system (GIS) techniques made it possible to produce land use/cover change matrices and rubber area change information, thus helping to understand the dynamics of the rubber tree resource. The decrease in the area of rubber plantations and the increase in the area of mixed crops from 1989--1993 in south of KL were partly attributed to the adoption of a crop diversification policy which was driven by relatively poor natural rubber prices during that time. The decrease in the areas of rubber plantations from 1993--1999 in this area was primarily due to rapid urbanization and infrastructure development driven by demographic expansion in the area south of KL. This thesis makes a practical contribution to the development of methods for inventory of forest plantations by linking ground information with model projections based on satellite data. Additionally, the thesis demonstrates the development of monitoring tools to assess resource availability and variability over time, and establish its linkages to policies. The inventory information, models, and monitoring protocols are needed for effective resource management planning aimed at maximizing the potential benefits of rubber tree crops for wood and natural rubber supply in Malaysia.

Average Stand Age from Forest Inventory Plots Does Not Describe Historical Fire Regimes in Ponderosa Pine and Mixed-Conifer Forests of Western North America.

PubMed

Stevens, Jens T; Safford, Hugh D; North, Malcolm P; Fried, Jeremy S; Gray, Andrew N; Brown, Peter M; Dolanc, Christopher R; Dobrowski, Solomon Z; Falk, Donald A; Farris, Calvin A; Franklin, Jerry F; Fulé, Peter Z; Hagmann, R Keala; Knapp, Eric E; Miller, Jay D; Smith, Douglas F; Swetnam, Thomas W; Taylor, Alan H

Quantifying historical fire regimes provides important information for managing contemporary forests. Historical fire frequency and severity can be estimated using several methods; each method has strengths and weaknesses and presents challenges for interpretation and verification. Recent efforts to quantify the timing of historical high-severity fire events in forests of western North America have assumed that the "stand age" variable from the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program reflects the timing of historical high-severity (i.e. stand-replacing) fire in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests. To test this assumption, we re-analyze the dataset used in a previous analysis, and compare information from fire history records with information from co-located FIA plots. We demonstrate that 1) the FIA stand age variable does not reflect the large range of individual tree ages in the FIA plots: older trees comprised more than 10% of pre-stand age basal area in 58% of plots analyzed and more than 30% of pre-stand age basal area in 32% of plots, and 2) recruitment events are not necessarily related to high-severity fire occurrence. Because the FIA stand age variable is estimated from a sample of tree ages within the tree size class containing a plurality of canopy trees in the plot, it does not necessarily include the oldest trees, especially in uneven-aged stands. Thus, the FIA stand age variable does not indicate whether the trees in the predominant size class established in response to severe fire, or established during the absence of fire. FIA stand age was not designed to measure the time since a stand-replacing disturbance. Quantification of historical "mixed-severity" fire regimes must be explicit about the spatial scale of high-severity fire effects, which is not possible using FIA stand age data.

Management of Agroforestry Practices in Assosa District, Benishangul Gumuze Region, Ethiopia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kifle, E. T.; Asfaw, Z.; Abdelkadir, A.

2017-12-01

Trees on farms have evolved from the selective retention of useful trees on agricultural lands following the severe forest destruction and degradation for agriculture and other uses. As a consequence, trees on farms form the main vegetation types in much of rural Ethiopia in general and Assosa district in particular. In order to increase the products and services of these important agroforestry species there is a need to identify and document the species type and their management practices. To this end, this study is intended to:1) identify agroforestry types, species richness, use-diversity and management of the woody and non-woody plant species 2) record on-farm tree management practices and 3) assess the perception and attitude of farmers towards tree management. A combination of assessment methods including species inventory, key informant discussions and questionnaire surveys were employed in the study. The key findings of the study have shown that a) there were four major agroforestry practices namely homrgardens, parklands, alley cropping and farm boundary plantings with homegardens and parklands appearing to be the dominant practices, b) a total of 57 woody and non-woody species were found to form the main vegetation species with about 21 species commonly shared by both homegardens and parklands c)the difference in mean number of stems in homegardens and parklands was significantly different (p<0.05), d) retained trees in the study area are multifunctional with more than six use types and were managed by more than five management practices including slant-cut of mango (Mangifera indica) trees. According to household respondents and key informants land tenure insecurity, prevalence of pests/diseases, scarcity of water and poor survival of seedlings were the major problems. Therefore, land certification, water resource development, integrated pest management(IPM), training of farmers and further research on the cultural management practices are key recommendations for further development of agroforestry in the study area. Keywords: homegardens; parklands; local knowledge; slant-cut; inventory; key informants; questionnaire

Average Stand Age from Forest Inventory Plots Does Not Describe Historical Fire Regimes in Ponderosa Pine and Mixed-Conifer Forests of Western North America

PubMed Central

Stevens, Jens T.; Safford, Hugh D.; North, Malcolm P.; Fried, Jeremy S.; Gray, Andrew N.; Brown, Peter M.; Dolanc, Christopher R.; Dobrowski, Solomon Z.; Falk, Donald A.; Farris, Calvin A.; Franklin, Jerry F.; Fulé, Peter Z.; Hagmann, R. Keala; Knapp, Eric E.; Miller, Jay D.; Smith, Douglas F.; Swetnam, Thomas W.; Taylor, Alan H.

2016-01-01

Quantifying historical fire regimes provides important information for managing contemporary forests. Historical fire frequency and severity can be estimated using several methods; each method has strengths and weaknesses and presents challenges for interpretation and verification. Recent efforts to quantify the timing of historical high-severity fire events in forests of western North America have assumed that the “stand age” variable from the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program reflects the timing of historical high-severity (i.e. stand-replacing) fire in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests. To test this assumption, we re-analyze the dataset used in a previous analysis, and compare information from fire history records with information from co-located FIA plots. We demonstrate that 1) the FIA stand age variable does not reflect the large range of individual tree ages in the FIA plots: older trees comprised more than 10% of pre-stand age basal area in 58% of plots analyzed and more than 30% of pre-stand age basal area in 32% of plots, and 2) recruitment events are not necessarily related to high-severity fire occurrence. Because the FIA stand age variable is estimated from a sample of tree ages within the tree size class containing a plurality of canopy trees in the plot, it does not necessarily include the oldest trees, especially in uneven-aged stands. Thus, the FIA stand age variable does not indicate whether the trees in the predominant size class established in response to severe fire, or established during the absence of fire. FIA stand age was not designed to measure the time since a stand-replacing disturbance. Quantification of historical “mixed-severity” fire regimes must be explicit about the spatial scale of high-severity fire effects, which is not possible using FIA stand age data. PMID:27196621

Missouri's forest resources in 2004

Treesearch

W. Keith Moser; Mark H. Hansen; Thomas Treiman; Bruce Moltzan; Robert Lawrence; Gary J. Brand

2006-01-01

Reports the initial results of five annual panels (2000-2004) of the inventory of Missouri's forest resources and one panel (2004) of growth, removals, and mortality. Includes information on forest area, number of trees, volume, biomass, growth, removals, mortality, and forest health.

Indiana's forest resources in 2004

Treesearch

Christopher Woodall; Gary Brand; Joey Gallion

2006-01-01

Reports the initial results of five annual panels (2000-2004) of the inventory of Indiana's forest resources and one panel (2004) of growth, removals, and mortality. Includes information on forest area, number of trees, volume, biomass, growth, removals, mortality, and forest health.

Upland Trees Contribute to Exchange of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) in Forest Ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, H.; Thompson, R.; Canadell, J.; Winiwarter, W.; Machacova, K.; Maier, M.; Halmeenmäki, E.; Svobodova, K.; Lang, F.; Pihlatie, M.; Urban, O.

2017-12-01

The increase in atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) concentration contributes to the acceleration of the greenhouse effect. However, the role of trees in the N2O exchange of forest ecosystems is still an open question. While the soils of temperate and boreal forests were shown to be a natural source of N2O, trees have been so far overlooked in the forest N2O inventories. We determined N2O fluxes in common tree species of boreal and temperate forests: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norway spruce (Picea abies), downy and silver birch (Betula pubescens, B. pendula), and European beech (Fagus sylvatica). We investigated (1) whether these tree species exchange N2O with the atmosphere under natural field conditions, (2) how the tree N2O fluxes contribute to the forest N2O balance, and (3) whether these fluxes show seasonal dynamics. The studies were performed in a boreal forest (SMEAR II station, Finland; June 2014 - May 2015) and two temperate mountain forests (White Carpathians, Czech Republic; Black Forest, Germany; June and July 2015). Fluxes of N2O in mature tree stems and forest floor were measured using static chamber systems followed by chromatographic and photo-acoustic analyses of N2O concentration changes. Pine, spruce and birch trees were identified as net annual N2O sources. Spruce was found the strongest emitter (0.27 mg ha-1 h-1) amounting thus up to 2.5% of forest floor N2O emissions. All tree species showed a substantial seasonality in stem N2O flux that was related to their physiological activity and climatic variables. In contrast, stems of beech trees growing at soils consuming N2O may act as a substantial sink of N2O from the atmosphere. Consistent N2O consumption by tree stems ranging between -12.1 and -35.2 mg ha-1 h-1 and contributing by up to 3.4% to the forest floor N2O uptake is a novel finding in contrast to current studies presenting trees as N2O emitters. To understand these fluxes, N2O exchange of photoautotrophic organisms associated with beech bark (lichens, mosses and algae) was quantified. All the organisms were net N2O sinks at full rehydration with consumption rates comparable to stem consumption rates. All tree species studied contribute to N2O exchange in forest ecosystems and these fluxes have to be included in the forest N2O emission inventories.

A net volume equation for Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas.

Treesearch

Gerhard K. Raile; W. Brad Smith; Carol A. Weist

1982-01-01

Describes a volume equation for Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas developed as part of the 1981 Michigan Forest Inventory. Equation coefficients are presented by species groupings for both cubic-foot and board-foot volumes for three tree categories.

Iowa's forest resources in 2004

Treesearch

Susan J. Crocker; W. Keith Moser; Gary J. Brand; Aron Flickinger

2006-01-01

Reports analysis of data for five annual panels (2000-2004) of inventory of Iowa's forest resources and one panel (1999 to 2004) of growth, removals, and mortality. Includes information on fores area, number of trees, volume, biomass growth, removals, mortality, and forest health.

Indiana's forest resources in 2005

Treesearch

Christopher Woodall; Gary Brand; Joey Gallion

2006-01-01

Reports the initial results of five annual panels (2001-2005) of the inventory of Indiana's forest resources and two panels (2004 and 2005) of growth, removals, and mortality. Includes information on forest area, number of trees, volume, biomass, growth, removals, mortality, and forest health.

12th Central Hardwood Forest Conference

Treesearch

Jeffrey W. Stringer; David L. Loftis; Michael Lacki; Thomas Barnes; Robert A. Muller

1999-01-01

There were 32 oral presentations, 11 abstracts, and 22 poster presentations presented at the 12th Central Hardwood Forest Conference. Presentation topics included wildlife management, nutrient dynamics, stand structure, reforestation/reclamation, timber harvesting, modeling and inventory, silviculture, disturbance effects, and genetics/tree improvement.

Forest statistics for Vermont: 1983 and 1997

Treesearch

Thomas S. Frieswyk; Richard H. Widmann; Richard H. Widmann

2000-01-01

A statistical report on the fifth forest inventory of Vermont 1996-1998. Findings are displayed in 86 tables containing estimates of forest area numbers of trees timber volume growth change and biomass. Data are presented at three levels: state, county, and region.

Forest Statistics for Maine, 1995

Treesearch

Douglas M. Griffith; Carol L. Alerich; Carol L. Alerich

1996-01-01

A statistical report on the fourth forest inventory of Maine conducted in 1994-96. Findings are displayed in 117 tables containing estimates of forest area numbers of trees, timber volume, and growth. Data are presented at three levels: state, geographic unit, and county.

Forest Statistics for New Jersey: 1987 and 1999

Treesearch

Douglas M. Griffith; Richard H. Widmann; Richard H. Widmann

2001-01-01

A statistical report on the fourth forest inventory of New Jersey 1999. Findings are displayed in 49 tables containing estimates of forest area numbers of trees timber volume growth change and biomass. Data are presented at two levels state and county.

77 FR 13061 - Electronic Reporting of Toxics Release Inventory Data

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-03-05

...--Reporting Year SIC--Standard Industrial Code TRI--Toxics Release Inventory TRI-ME--TRI-Made Easy Desktop... EPA to ``publish a uniform toxic chemical release form for facilities covered'' by the TRI Program. 42... practicable. Similarly, EPA's Cross-Media Electronic Reporting Regulation (CROMERR) (40 CFR Part 3), published...

Enhancement mechanism of field electron emission properties in hybrid carbon nanotubes with tree- and wing-like features

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, G.M.; School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales, NSW 2052; Yang, C.C., E-mail: ccyang@unsw.edu.a

2009-12-15

In this work, the tree-like carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with branches of different diameters and the wing-like CNTs with graphitic-sheets of different densities were synthesized by using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The nanostructures of the as-prepared hybrid carbon materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The structural dependence of field electron emission (FEE) property was also investigated. It is found that both of the tree- and wing-like CNTs exhibit a lower turn-on field and higher emission current density than the pristine CNTs, which can be ascribed to the effects of branch size, crystal orientation, and graphitic-sheetmore » density. - Graphical abstract: Tree-like carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with branches and the wing-like CNTs with graphitic-sheets were synthesized by using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The structural dependence of field electron emission property was also investigated.« less

Forest statistics for New Hampshire; 1983 and 1997

Treesearch

Thomas S. Frieswyk; Richard H. Widmann; Richard H. Widmann

2000-01-01

A statistical report on the fifth forest inventory of New Hampshire 1996-1998. Findings are displayed in 86 tables containing estimates of forest area numbers of trees timber volume growth change and biomass. Data are presented at three levels; state, county, and region.

Forest statistics for Massachusetts: 1985 and 1998

Treesearch

Carol L. Alerich; Carol L. Alerich

2000-01-01

A statistical report on the fourth forest inventory of Massachusetts (1997-1998.) Findings are dispayed in 67 tables containing estimates of forest area numbers of trees, wildlife habitat, timber volume, growth, change, and biomass. Data are presented at two levels: state and county.

Forest statistics for Connecticut: 1985 and 1998

Treesearch

Carol L. Alerich; Carol L. Alerich

2000-01-01

A statistical report on the fourth forest inventory of Connecticut 1997-1998. Findings are displayed in 67 tables containing estimates of forest area numbers of trees wildlife habitat timber volume growth change and biomass Data are presented at two levels: state and county.

The importance of drought-pathogen interactions in driving oak mortality events in the Ozark Border Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, Jeffrey D.; Knapp, Benjamin O.; Muzika, Rose-Marie; Stambaugh, Michael C.; Gu, Lianhong

2018-01-01

Forests are expected to become more vulnerable to drought-induced tree mortality owing to rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns that amplify drought lethality. There is a crucial knowledge gap regarding drought-pathogen interactions and their effects on tree mortality. The objectives of this research were to examine whether stand dynamics and ‘background’ mortality rates were affected by a severe drought in 2012; and to evaluate the importance of drought-pathogen interactions within the context of a mortality event that killed 10.0% and 26.5% of white (Quercus alba L.) and black (Q. velutina Lam.) oak stems, respectively, in a single year. We synthesized (i) forest inventory data (24 years), (ii) 11 years of ecosystem flux data with supporting biological data including predawn leaf water potential and annual forest inventories, (iii) tree-ring analyses of individual white oaks that were alive and ones that died in 2013, and (iv) documentation of a pathogen infection. This forest displayed stand dynamics consistent with expected patterns of decreasing tree density and increasing basal area. Continued basal area growth outpaced mortality implying a net accumulation of live biomass, which was supported by eddy covariance ecosystem carbon flux observations. Individual white and black oaks that died in 2013 displayed historically lower growth with the majority of dead trees exhibiting Biscogniauxia cankers. Our observations point to the importance of event-based oak mortality and that drought-Biscogniauxia interactions are important in shaping oak stand dynamics in this region. Although forest function has not been significantly impaired, these drought-pathogen interactions could amplify mortality under future climate conditions and thus warrant further investigation.

The importance of drought–pathogen interactions in driving oak mortality events in the Ozark Border Region

DOE PAGES

Wood, Jeffrey D.; Knapp, Benjamin O.; Muzika, Rose-Marie; ...

2017-10-20

Forests are expected to become more vulnerable to drought-induced tree mortality owing to rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns that amplify drought lethality. There is a crucial knowledge gap regarding drought–pathogen interactions and their effects on tree mortality. The objectives of this research were to examine whether stand dynamics and 'background' mortality rates were affected by a severe drought in 2012; and to evaluate the importance of drought–pathogen interactions within the context of a mortality event that killed 10.0% and 26.5% of white (Quercus alba L.) and black (Q. velutina Lam.) oak stems, respectively, in a single year. We synthesizedmore » (i) forest inventory data (24 years), (ii) 11 years of ecosystem flux data with supporting biological data including predawn leaf water potential and annual forest inventories, (iii) tree-ring analyses of individual white oaks that were alive and ones that died in 2013, and (iv) documentation of a pathogen infection. This forest displayed stand dynamics consistent with expected patterns of decreasing tree density and increasing basal area. Continued basal area growth outpaced mortality implying a net accumulation of live biomass, which was supported by eddy covariance ecosystem carbon flux observations. Individual white and black oaks that died in 2013 displayed historically lower growth with the majority of dead trees exhibiting Biscogniauxia cankers. Our observations point to the importance of event-based oak mortality and that drought–Biscogniauxia interactions are important in shaping oak stand dynamics in this region. Although forest function has not been significantly impaired, these drought–pathogen interactions could amplify mortality under future climate conditions and thus warrant further investigation.« less

The importance of drought–pathogen interactions in driving oak mortality events in the Ozark Border Region

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wood, Jeffrey D.; Knapp, Benjamin O.; Muzika, Rose-Marie

Forests are expected to become more vulnerable to drought-induced tree mortality owing to rising temperatures and changing precipitation patterns that amplify drought lethality. There is a crucial knowledge gap regarding drought–pathogen interactions and their effects on tree mortality. The objectives of this research were to examine whether stand dynamics and 'background' mortality rates were affected by a severe drought in 2012; and to evaluate the importance of drought–pathogen interactions within the context of a mortality event that killed 10.0% and 26.5% of white (Quercus alba L.) and black (Q. velutina Lam.) oak stems, respectively, in a single year. We synthesizedmore » (i) forest inventory data (24 years), (ii) 11 years of ecosystem flux data with supporting biological data including predawn leaf water potential and annual forest inventories, (iii) tree-ring analyses of individual white oaks that were alive and ones that died in 2013, and (iv) documentation of a pathogen infection. This forest displayed stand dynamics consistent with expected patterns of decreasing tree density and increasing basal area. Continued basal area growth outpaced mortality implying a net accumulation of live biomass, which was supported by eddy covariance ecosystem carbon flux observations. Individual white and black oaks that died in 2013 displayed historically lower growth with the majority of dead trees exhibiting Biscogniauxia cankers. Our observations point to the importance of event-based oak mortality and that drought–Biscogniauxia interactions are important in shaping oak stand dynamics in this region. Although forest function has not been significantly impaired, these drought–pathogen interactions could amplify mortality under future climate conditions and thus warrant further investigation.« less

Characterizing individual particles on tree leaves using computer automated scanning electron microscopy

Treesearch

D. L. Johnson; D. J. Nowak; V. A. Jouraeva

1999-01-01

Leaves from twenty-three deciduous tree species and five conifer species were collected within a limited geographic range (1 km radius) and evaluated for possible application of scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis techniques of individual particle analysis (IPA). The goal was to identify tree species with leaves suitable for the automated...

Nitrogen Pollution Shifts Forest Mycorrhizal Associations at Continental Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Averill, C.; Talbot, J. M.; Dietze, M.

2016-12-01

Most trees on Earth form a symbiosis with either ectomycorrhizal or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The type of association has demonstrated importance for understanding ecosystem carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. Furthermore, the effect is independent of other dominant drivers of ecosystem function: climate, mineralogy and organic matter chemistry. Given this, it becomes important to understand where different mycorrhizal associations are, what controls their distribution, and where they will be in the future. Here we analyze 3,000 forest inventory plots from the United State Forest Inventory and Analysis data set. We categorize forest basal area as ecto- or arbuscular mycorrhizal associated to generate a metric of the relative abundance of ectomycorrhizal trees (ectomycorrhizal basal area / ecto- + arbuscular mycorrhizal basal area). We model this abundance as a function of climate, soil chemical properties (pH and C:N stoichiometry), and atmospheric N deposition. We hypothesized that N pollution in the United States has affected the relative abundance of different mycorrhizal associations, and that this would be reflected in forest composition. Overall, models showed that climate, soil chemistry, and N deposition were important for predicting the current relative abundance of ecto- and arbuscular associated trees. Ectomycorrhizal trees were more abundant in cold and wet climates compared to hot and dry. Low soil pH and high soil C:N ratios were also associated with an increase in the relative abundance of ectomycorrhizal trees. Most interesting, there was a significant influence of N deposition on the relative abundance of different mycorrhizal associations. N deposition reduced the abundance of ectomycorrhizal compared to arbuscular mycorrhizal associated trees independent of climate and soil chemistry. Given the known associations between ectomycorrhizal dominance and soil C stabilization, we argue that N pollution in the United States has shifted the forest microbiome in a way that may have large implications for ecosystem C balance. Future changes in atmospheric N deposition will likely alter forest community composition and C balance via interactions with the forest microbiome.

Spatial Patterns of Soil Organic Carbon Relative to Tree Size and Canopy Distribution in a Semi-Desert Grassland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Throop, H. L.; Archer, S.

2004-12-01

The abundance of woody species in grasslands and savannas has increased globally over the past century. Recent estimates suggest that this proliferation of woody plants may account for a significant fraction of the Northern Hemisphere C sink, although a large degree of uncertainty exists in the magnitude and spatial distribution of these plant and soil pools. While field-based inventories have made progress in assessing the role of aboveground woody growth in ecosystem C inventories, the effect of woody proliferation on soil organic carbon (SOC) remains controversial, despite the fact that the majority of ecosystem C in these systems is typically belowground. Elevated levels of SOC underneath woody plant canopies have been widely reported, but little is known about the spatial distribution of SOC relative to tree canopies. Understanding the spatial distribution of SOC is critical, however, to developing accurate landscape-scale assessments of woody proliferation impacts on ecosystem C pools. We quantified the influence of encroaching mesquite trees (Fabaceae: Prosopis velutina) on the concentration of SOC and total nitrogen (TN) in a semi-desert grassland in southern Arizona. SOC concentrations near the boles of large trees (basal diameter 85-102 cm) were approximately double that of SOC in intercanopy zones (0.9% vs. 0.4% SOC by weight). SOC declined moving out from the bole to the canopy edge, at which point it was equivalent to inter-canopy spaces. Small to medium-sized trees (basal diameters less than 85 cm) had minimal influence on SOC concentrations. Patterns of TN values mirrored those of SOC in all cases, although TN values were roughly an order of magnitude lower than SOC values. These data suggest that accurate accounting of landscape-level SOC stocks will require developing area-weighting algorithms that account for tree size and bole-to-canopy gradients.

Detecting early warning signals of tree mortality using multi-scale satellite data: a case study in boreal North Americ

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, B. M.; Hogg, E. H.; Solvik, K.; Ju, J.; Masek, J. G.; Michaelian, M.; Berner, L. T.; Goetz, S. J.

2017-12-01

Tree mortality from drought and biotic infestations represents a fundamental transition for forests at the level of an individual tree, forest stand, and even landscape. Tree mortality precipitates a cascade of ecosystem impacts and has been increasing across the continents, including in the boreal zone where climate changes and feedbacks to the Earth system are relatively large. Despite the importance for science and management communities, our ability to forecast tree mortality at landscape to continental scales is limited. However, two independent information streams have the potential to inform and significantly improve mortality forecasts. Tree-level productivity dynamics are known to precede mortality in predictable ways years to decades before death. Plot-level productivity, in turn, has been related to satellite-based indices such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Here we link these two data sources to show that early warning signals of mortality are evident in several NDVI-based metrics up to 20 years before death. We focus on two repeat forest inventories and three NDVI products across western boreal North America where productivity and mortality dynamics are influenced by periodic drought. These data sources capture a range in forest conditions and spatial resolution to highlight the sensitivity and limitations of our approach. Overall, results indicate potential to use satellite NDVI for early warning signals of mortality. Relationships are broadly consistent across inventories, species, and spatial resolutions, although coarse-scale imagery in the heterogeneous aspen parkland was of limited utility. Longer-term NDVI data and annually re-measured sites with high mortality levels generate the strongest signals, although we still found robust relationships at sites re-measured at a typical five-year frequency. The approach and relationships developed here can be used as a basis for improving forest mortality models and monitoring systems.

Species of the Mississippi River Headwaters Reservoirs Region.

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-07-01

inventory and analysis system (ERIAS). _ 00, ’<*" 14175 JAM TO WJ COITION OF > MOV «S IS OBSOLETE UNCLASSIFIED SECURITY CLASSIFICATION1 OF THIS...COMMON) SUNFISH, GREEN (SUNFISH), PUMPKIN SEED SWALLOW, BANK SWALLOW, BARN SWALLOW, ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW, TREE SWAN, WHISTLING SWIFT

Forest statistics for Rhode Island: 1985 and 1998

Treesearch

Carol L. Alerich; Carol L. Alerich

2000-01-01

A statistical report on the fourth forest inventory of Rhode Island (1997-1998.) Findings are displayed in 67 tables containing estimates of forest area numbers of trees, wildlife habitat, timber, volume, growth, change and biomass. Data are presented at two levels: state and county.

Forest statistics for Maryland: 1986 and 1999

Treesearch

Thomas S. Frieswyk

2001-01-01

A statistical report on the fifth forest inventory of Maryland (1998-1999). Findings are displayed in 109 tables containing estimates of forest area, numbers of trees, wildlife habitat, timber volume, growth, change, and biomass. Data are presented at three levels: state, geographic unit and county.

Forest statistics for Ohio, 1991

Treesearch

Douglas M. Griffith; Dawn M. DiGiovanni; Teresa L. Witzel; Eric H. Wharton

1993-01-01

A statistical report on the fourth forest inventory of Ohio conducted in 1988-90. Findings are displayed in tables containing estimates of forest area, number of trees, sawtimber volume, growing-stock volume, biomass, growth, and removals. Data are presented at three levels: state, geographic unit, and county.

Indiana's forests 1999-2003 (Part A)

Treesearch

Christopher Woodall; Dan Johnson; Joey Gallion; Charles Perry; Brett Butler; Ron Piva; Ed Jepsen; Dave Nowak; Phil Marshall

2005-01-01

The first completed annual inventory of Indiana's forests reports more than 4.5 million acres of forest land with a diverse array of forest types, substantial growth of economically valuable tree species, and future forest health concerns such as invasive species, forest fragmentation, and oak forest decline.

Impacts of hydroelectric dams on alluvial riparian plant communities in Eastern Brazilian Amazonian.

PubMed

Ferreira, Leandro Valle; Cunha, Denise A; Chaves, Priscilla P; Matos, Darley C L; Parolin, Pia

2013-09-01

The major rivers of the Amazon River basin and their biota are threatened by the planned construction of large hydroelectric dams that are expected to have strong impacts on floodplain plant communities. The present study presents forest inventories from three floodplain sites colonized by alluvial riparian vegetation in the Tapajós, Xingu and Tocantins River basins in eastern Amazonian. Results indicate that tree species of the highly specialized alluvial riparian vegetation are clearly distinct among the three river basins, although they are not very distinct from each other and environmental constraints are very similar. With only 6 of 74 species occurring in all three inventories, most tree and shrub species are restricted to only one of the rivers, indicating a high degree of local distribution. Different species occupy similar environmental niches, making these fragile riparian formations highly valuable. Conservation plans must consider species complementarily when decisions are made on where to place floodplain forest conservation units to avoid the irreversible loss of unique alluvial riparian vegetation biodiversity.

Stemflow variation in Mexico's northeastern forest communities: Its contribution to soil moisture content and aquifer recharge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Návar, José

2011-09-01

SummaryStemflow hydro-ecological importance was measured in trees and assessed in Mexico's northeast forest stands by answering three basic questions: (a) what are the intra and inter-specific stemflow variations; (b) is the stemflow coefficient constant from tree level to stand scales? and (c) what is the stemflow area and wetted soil volume in individual trees and the stemflow volume discharged at the stand scale in two plant communities of northeastern Mexico? Gross rainfall and stemflow flux measurements were conducted on 78 trees of semi-arid, sub-tropical (31 Diospyros texana; 14 Acacia rigidula; four Bumelia celastrina; five Condalia hookeri; three Cordia bioissieri; three Pithecellobium pallens) and temperate forest communities (six Pinus pseudostrobus Lindl. and 12 Quercus spp.). Stemflow was extrapolated from individual trees to the stand scale using 98 inventory plots (1600 m 2 ha -1 each) placed in oak-pine forests and 37 quadrats (5 m × 5 m each) distributed across the Tamaulipan thornscrub forest range. Stemflow infiltration flux and infiltration area measurements assessed the wetted soil volume. Daily measurements were conducted from May of 1997 to November of 1998. Results showed that stemflow coefficients varied between plant communities since they averaged (confidence intervals, α = 0.05) 2.49% (0.57), 0.30% (0.09), and 0.77% (0.27) of the bulk precipitation for Tamaulipan thornscrub, pine, and oak forests, respectively. Intra-specific stemflow variations could not be identified in Tamaulipan although in temperate tree species. Basal diameter explained intra-specific stemflow variation in both plant communities. Stemflow increased threefold since it accounted for by 6.38% and 2.19% of the total bulk rainfall for Tamaulipan thornscrub quadrats and temperate oak-pine inventory plots, respectively. Small shrubs growing underneath large trees, in combination with the presence of small-diameter trees that recorded the largest stemflow coefficients appear to explain the increase of the stemflow coefficient from trees to stands. Stemflow replenishes soil moisture on the average 4.5 (1.4) times larger than does incident rainfall in open soils and appear to contribute to aquifer recharge in temperate forests due to a combination of shallow soils, high infiltration fluxes and the stemflow volume generated during rainfalls with depths >15 mm. Tracing studies should be conducted to test the hypothesis of the stemflow contribution to aquifer recharge in temperate forests of northeastern Mexico.

Regulatory and information support for evaluation of biological productivity of Ukrainian forests and climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lakyda, Petro; Vasylyshyn, Roman; Lakyda, Ivan

2013-04-01

Stabilization and preservation of the planet's climate system today is regarded as one of the most important global political-economic, environmental and social problems of mankind. Rising concentration of carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere due to anthropogenic impact is the main reason leading to global climate change. Due to the above mentioned, social demands on forests are changing their biosphere role and function of natural sink of greenhouse gases becomes top priority. It is known that one of the most essential components of biological productivity of forests is their live biomass. Absorption, long-term sequestration of carbon and generation of oxygen are secured by its components. System research of its parametric structure and development of regulatory and reference information for assessment of aboveground live biomass components of trees and stands of the main forest-forming tree species in Ukraine began over twenty-five years ago at the department of forest mensuration and forest inventory of National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, involving staff from other research institutions. Today, regulatory and reference materials for evaluation of parametric structure of live biomass are developed for trees of the following major forest-forming tree species of Ukraine: Scots pine of natural and artificial origin, Crimean pine, Norway spruce, silver fir, pedunculate oak, European beech, hornbeam, ash, common birch, aspen and black alder (P.I. Lakyda et al., 2011). An ongoing process on development of similar regulatory and reference materials for forest stands of the abovementioned forest-forming tree species of Ukraine is secured by scientists of departments of forest management, and forest mensuration and forest inventory. The total experimental research base is 609 temporary sample plots, where 4880 model trees were processed, including 3195 model trees with estimates of live biomass components. Laboratory studies conducted on 1743 research sections of tree stems, 809 samples of crown branches, 2560 model tree greenery branches, 346 batches of needles and 534 batches of leaves. These materials have high scientific and practical value, forming a basis for quantitative evaluation of biological productivity of forests in Ukraine, which are of great importance for mitigation of climate change. They also can be used as a data source for development of systems of models of various purposes, which find their application in Ukrainian and world forest science and practice.

Bald eagle winter roost characteristics in Lava Beds National Monument, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Stohlgren, Thomas J.

1993-01-01

This study provided a survey of bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) winter roost habitat (in 4 km2 of potential roost areas) in southern Lava Beds National Monument, California. A systematic-clustered sampling design (n=381 plots) was used to compare forest stand characteristics in two primary roost areas (Caldwell Butte and Eagle Nest Butte) and two potential roost areas (Hidden Valley and Island Butte). A 100 percent inventory of roost trees in Caldwell Butte (n=103 trees) and Eagle Nest Butte (n=44 trees) showed they were spatially clumped and restricted to 12.7 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, of the study areas. Roost trees, primarily ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), averaged 81.1 ± 1.3 cm dbh (mean ± 1 S.E.) compared to non-roost trees (>35 cm dbh) that averaged 52.2 ± 1.0 cm dbh. Roost trees were generally taller and more open-structured than non-roost trees. All four study sites had adequate numbers of mid-sized trees (10 to 50 cm dbh) to replace the current stock of older, larger roost trees. However, seedling and small trees (<10 cm dbh) in the roost areas were spatially clumped and few, suggesting that maintaining a continuous population of roost trees may be a problem in the distant future. Long-term studies of changing winter roost habitat and eagle use are essential to protect the bald eagle in the northwestern US.

Pollution mitigation and carbon sequestration by an urban forest.

PubMed

Brack, C L

2002-01-01

At the beginning of the 1900s, the Canberra plain was largely treeless. Graziers had carried out extensive clearing of the original trees since the 1820s leaving only scattered remnants and some plantings near homesteads. With the selection of Canberra as the site for the new capital of Australia, extensive tree plantings began in 1911. These trees have delivered a number of benefits, including aesthetic values and the amelioration of climatic extremes. Recently, however, it was considered that the benefits might extend to pollution mitigation and the sequestration of carbon. This paper outlines a case study of the value of the Canberra urban forest with particular reference to pollution mitigation. This study uses a tree inventory, modelling and decision support system developed to collect and use data about trees for tree asset management. The decision support system (DISMUT) was developed to assist in the management of about 400,000 trees planted in Canberra. The size of trees during the 5-year Kyoto Commitment Period was estimated using DISMUT and multiplied by estimates of value per square meter of canopy derived from available literature. The planted trees are estimated to have a combined energy reduction, pollution mitigation and carbon sequestration value of US$20-67 million during the period 2008-2012.

Effect of historical land-use and climate change on tree-climate relationships in the upper Midwestern United States.

PubMed

Goring, Simon J; Williams, John W

2017-04-01

Contemporary forest inventory data are widely used to understand environmental controls on tree species distributions and to construct models to project forest responses to climate change, but the stability and representativeness of contemporary tree-climate relationships are poorly understood. We show that tree-climate relationships for 15 tree genera in the upper Midwestern US have significantly altered over the last two centuries due to historical land-use and climate change. Realised niches have shifted towards higher minimum temperatures and higher rainfall. A new attribution method implicates both historical climate change and land-use in these shifts, with the relative importance varying among genera and climate variables. Most climate/land-use interactions are compounding, in which historical land-use reinforces shifts in species-climate relationships toward wetter distributions, or confounding, in which land-use complicates shifts towards warmer distributions. Compounding interactions imply that contemporary-based models of species distributions may underestimate species resilience to climate change. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Patterns and Drivers of Tree Mortality in Iberian Forests: Climatic Effects Are Modified by Competition

PubMed Central

Ruiz-Benito, Paloma; Lines, Emily R.; Gómez-Aparicio, Lorena; Zavala, Miguel A.; Coomes, David A.

2013-01-01

Tree mortality is a key process underlying forest dynamics and community assembly. Understanding how tree mortality is driven by simultaneous drivers is needed to evaluate potential effects of climate change on forest composition. Using repeat-measure information from c. 400,000 trees from the Spanish Forest Inventory, we quantified the relative importance of tree size, competition, climate and edaphic conditions on tree mortality of 11 species, and explored the combined effect of climate and competition. Tree mortality was affected by all of these multiple drivers, especially tree size and asymmetric competition, and strong interactions between climate and competition were found. All species showed L-shaped mortality patterns (i.e. showed decreasing mortality with tree size), but pines were more sensitive to asymmetric competition than broadleaved species. Among climatic variables, the negative effect of temperature on tree mortality was much larger than the effect of precipitation. Moreover, the effect of climate (mean annual temperature and annual precipitation) on tree mortality was aggravated at high competition levels for all species, but especially for broadleaved species. The significant interaction between climate and competition on tree mortality indicated that global change in Mediterranean regions, causing hotter and drier conditions and denser stands, could lead to profound effects on forest structure and composition. Therefore, to evaluate the potential effects of climatic change on tree mortality, forest structure must be considered, since two systems of similar composition but different structure could radically differ in their response to climatic conditions. PMID:23451096

Oklahoma's forests, 2014

Treesearch

Kerry Dooley; KaDonna Randolph

2017-01-01

This resource bulletin describes the principal findings of the 2014 forest inventory of Oklahoma (conducted 2009–2014) and examines changes since the previous survey of Oklahoma in 2008. Topics presented include forest area, volume, biomass, number of trees, growth, mortality, removals, forest health, silvicultural treatments, and forest ownership.

Forest Statistics for New York 1980 and 1993

Treesearch

Carol L. Alerich; David A. Drake; David A. Drake

1995-01-01

A statistical report on the fourth forest inventory of New York 1991- 1994. Findings are displayed in 155 tables containing estimates of forest area numbers of trees wildlife habitat timber volume growth change and biomass. Data are presented at three levels; state, geographic unit, and county.

National forest cover monitoring in mainland South and Southeast Asia: method development and capacity building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tyukavina, A.; Potapov, P.; Hansen, M.; Talero, Y.; Turubanova, S.; Pickering, J.; Pickens, A. H.; Quyen, N. H.; Spirovska Kono, M.

2017-12-01

Timely forest monitoring data produced following good practice guidance are required for national reporting on greenhouse gas emissions, national forest resource assessments, and monitoring for REDD+ projects. Remote sensing provides a cost-efficient supplement to national forest inventories, and is often the single viable source of data on forest extent for countries still in the process of establishing field-based inventories. Operational forest monitoring using remotely sensed data requires technical capacity to store, process, and analyze high volumes of satellite imagery. The University of Maryland Global Land Analysis and Discovery (UMD GLAD) lab possesses such technical capacity and is seeking to transfer it to national agencies responsible for forest reporting, national academic institutions, and NGOs. Our projects in South and Southeast Asia include regional forest monitoring in the lower Mekong region in support of the Regional Land Cover Monitoring System (funded by the NASA SERVIR program) and building capacity for forest monitoring in Nepal, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand (funded by the SilvaCarbon program). Our forest monitoring approach is a regional scale adaptation of methods developed for the global analysis (Hansen et al. 2013). The methodology to track large-scale clearing of natural forests (e.g. in Brazil and Indonesia) is well established; however, the methods for small-scale disturbance mapping and tree cover rotation assessment are still in development. In Bangladesh our mapping of tree cover change between 2000-2014 revealed that 54% of the tree canopy cover was outside forests, and the majority of canopy changes were smaller than 0.1 ha. Landsat's 30-m resolution was therefore insufficient to monitor changes in tree cover. By using a probability sample of high resolution (circa 1 m) imagery we were able to quantify change in tree canopy cover outside forests (including village woodlots, tree plantations and agroforestry) and in different forest types. Our result shows that while the net tree cover change in Bangladesh is rather small, the gross dynamics are significant and can vary by forest type.

The discovery of the Amazonian tree flora with an updated checklist of all known tree taxa

PubMed Central

ter Steege, Hans; Vaessen, Rens W.; Cárdenas-López, Dairon; Sabatier, Daniel; Antonelli, Alexandre; de Oliveira, Sylvia Mota; Pitman, Nigel C. A.; Jørgensen, Peter Møller; Salomão, Rafael P.

2016-01-01

Amazonia is the most biodiverse rainforest on Earth, and the debate over how many tree species grow there remains contentious. Here we provide a checklist of all tree species collected to date, and describe spatial and temporal trends in data accumulation. We report 530,025 unique collections of trees in Amazonia, dating between 1707 and 2015, for a total of 11,676 species in 1225 genera and 140 families. These figures support recent estimates of 16,000 total Amazonian tree species based on ecological plot data from the Amazonian Tree Diversity Network. Botanical collection in Amazonia is characterized by three major peaks, centred around 1840, 1920, and 1980, which are associated with flora projects and the establishment of inventory plots. Most collections were made in the 20th century. The number of collections has increased exponentially, but shows a slowdown in the last two decades. We find that a species’ range size is a better predictor of the number of times it has been collected than the species’ estimated basin-wide population size. Finding, describing, and documenting the distribution of the remaining species will require coordinated efforts at under-collected sites. PMID:27406027

The discovery of the Amazonian tree flora with an updated checklist of all known tree taxa.

PubMed

Ter Steege, Hans; Vaessen, Rens W; Cárdenas-López, Dairon; Sabatier, Daniel; Antonelli, Alexandre; de Oliveira, Sylvia Mota; Pitman, Nigel C A; Jørgensen, Peter Møller; Salomão, Rafael P

2016-07-13

Amazonia is the most biodiverse rainforest on Earth, and the debate over how many tree species grow there remains contentious. Here we provide a checklist of all tree species collected to date, and describe spatial and temporal trends in data accumulation. We report 530,025 unique collections of trees in Amazonia, dating between 1707 and 2015, for a total of 11,676 species in 1225 genera and 140 families. These figures support recent estimates of 16,000 total Amazonian tree species based on ecological plot data from the Amazonian Tree Diversity Network. Botanical collection in Amazonia is characterized by three major peaks, centred around 1840, 1920, and 1980, which are associated with flora projects and the establishment of inventory plots. Most collections were made in the 20th century. The number of collections has increased exponentially, but shows a slowdown in the last two decades. We find that a species' range size is a better predictor of the number of times it has been collected than the species' estimated basin-wide population size. Finding, describing, and documenting the distribution of the remaining species will require coordinated efforts at under-collected sites.

The discovery of the Amazonian tree flora with an updated checklist of all known tree taxa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ter Steege, Hans; Vaessen, Rens W.; Cárdenas-López, Dairon; Sabatier, Daniel; Antonelli, Alexandre; de Oliveira, Sylvia Mota; Pitman, Nigel C. A.; Jørgensen, Peter Møller; Salomão, Rafael P.

2016-07-01

Amazonia is the most biodiverse rainforest on Earth, and the debate over how many tree species grow there remains contentious. Here we provide a checklist of all tree species collected to date, and describe spatial and temporal trends in data accumulation. We report 530,025 unique collections of trees in Amazonia, dating between 1707 and 2015, for a total of 11,676 species in 1225 genera and 140 families. These figures support recent estimates of 16,000 total Amazonian tree species based on ecological plot data from the Amazonian Tree Diversity Network. Botanical collection in Amazonia is characterized by three major peaks, centred around 1840, 1920, and 1980, which are associated with flora projects and the establishment of inventory plots. Most collections were made in the 20th century. The number of collections has increased exponentially, but shows a slowdown in the last two decades. We find that a species’ range size is a better predictor of the number of times it has been collected than the species’ estimated basin-wide population size. Finding, describing, and documenting the distribution of the remaining species will require coordinated efforts at under-collected sites.

Using US Forest Inventory (FIA) Data to Test for Growth Enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masek, J. G.; Collatz, G. J.; Williams, C. A.

2015-12-01

It is recognized that land ecosystems sequester a significant fraction of anthropogenic carbon emissions, and that the magnitude of the "land sink" appears to be increasing through time. This observation has led to the hypothesis that forest ecosystems are experiencing more rapid growth than their historical norm, due to some combination of CO2 fertilization, longer growing seasons, nitrogen deposition, and more intensive management. Direct evidence for growth enhancment has been reported from experimental plots, where long-term (historical) rates of biomass accumulation appear lower than contemporary rates derived from remeasurement of individual trees. However, the approach has not been pursued at a national scale. Since the late 1990's the US Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program has standardized plot locations across the United States, and has systematically remeasured tree and plot attributes on 5-year (east) or 10-year (west) cycles. In principle, these remeasured plots provide a robust dataset for comparing contemporary and historical growth rates. In this talk we review approaches for performing this comparison at both plot and tree scales. We find that recent plot-level biomass accumulation rates from the eastern US do show more rapid growth than would be expected from historical biomass-age curves, with enhancement factors of up 2x. However, the implicit inclusion of "cryptic" or older disturbances in the historical curves hinders a definitive interpretation. Stand-level age-biomass simulations confirm that disturbance events must be included in the remeasured data set in order to provide comparability with historical curves. Remeasured DBH measurements from individual trees may provide a more robust approach for examining the issue.

Tree allometry and improved estimation of carbon stocks and balance in tropical forests.

PubMed

Chave, J; Andalo, C; Brown, S; Cairns, M A; Chambers, J Q; Eamus, D; Fölster, H; Fromard, F; Higuchi, N; Kira, T; Lescure, J-P; Nelson, B W; Ogawa, H; Puig, H; Riéra, B; Yamakura, T

2005-08-01

Tropical forests hold large stores of carbon, yet uncertainty remains regarding their quantitative contribution to the global carbon cycle. One approach to quantifying carbon biomass stores consists in inferring changes from long-term forest inventory plots. Regression models are used to convert inventory data into an estimate of aboveground biomass (AGB). We provide a critical reassessment of the quality and the robustness of these models across tropical forest types, using a large dataset of 2,410 trees >or= 5 cm diameter, directly harvested in 27 study sites across the tropics. Proportional relationships between aboveground biomass and the product of wood density, trunk cross-sectional area, and total height are constructed. We also develop a regression model involving wood density and stem diameter only. Our models were tested for secondary and old-growth forests, for dry, moist and wet forests, for lowland and montane forests, and for mangrove forests. The most important predictors of AGB of a tree were, in decreasing order of importance, its trunk diameter, wood specific gravity, total height, and forest type (dry, moist, or wet). Overestimates prevailed, giving a bias of 0.5-6.5% when errors were averaged across all stands. Our regression models can be used reliably to predict aboveground tree biomass across a broad range of tropical forests. Because they are based on an unprecedented dataset, these models should improve the quality of tropical biomass estimates, and bring consensus about the contribution of the tropical forest biome and tropical deforestation to the global carbon cycle.

Deriving Continuous Fields of Tree Cover at 1-m over the Continental United States From the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) Imagery to Reduce Uncertainties in Forest Carbon Stock Estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganguly, S.; Basu, S.; Mukhopadhyay, S.; Michaelis, A.; Milesi, C.; Votava, P.; Nemani, R. R.

2013-12-01

An unresolved issue with coarse-to-medium resolution satellite-based forest carbon mapping over regional to continental scales is the high level of uncertainty in above ground biomass (AGB) estimates caused by the absence of forest cover information at a high enough spatial resolution (current spatial resolution is limited to 30-m). To put confidence in existing satellite-derived AGB density estimates, it is imperative to create continuous fields of tree cover at a sufficiently high resolution (e.g. 1-m) such that large uncertainties in forested area are reduced. The proposed work will provide means to reduce uncertainty in present satellite-derived AGB maps and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) based regional estimates. Our primary objective will be to create Very High Resolution (VHR) estimates of tree cover at a spatial resolution of 1-m for the Continental United States using all available National Agriculture Imaging Program (NAIP) color-infrared imagery from 2010 till 2012. We will leverage the existing capabilities of the NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) high performance computing and storage facilities. The proposed 1-m tree cover map can be further aggregated to provide percent tree cover at any medium-to-coarse resolution spatial grid, which will aid in reducing uncertainties in AGB density estimation at the respective grid and overcome current limitations imposed by medium-to-coarse resolution land cover maps. We have implemented a scalable and computationally-efficient parallelized framework for tree-cover delineation - the core components of the algorithm [that] include a feature extraction process, a Statistical Region Merging image segmentation algorithm and a classification algorithm based on Deep Belief Network and a Feedforward Backpropagation Neural Network algorithm. An initial pilot exercise has been performed over the state of California (~11,000 scenes) to create a wall-to-wall 1-m tree cover map and the classification accuracy has been assessed. Results show an improvement in accuracy of tree-cover delineation as compared to existing forest cover maps from NLCD, especially over fragmented, heterogeneous and urban landscapes. Estimates of VHR tree cover will complement and enhance the accuracy of present remote-sensing based AGB modeling approaches and forest inventory based estimates at both national and local scales. A requisite step will be to characterize the inherent uncertainties in tree cover estimates and propagate them to estimate AGB.

Calibrating and testing a gap model for simulating forest management in the Oregon Coast Range

USGS Publications Warehouse

Pabst, R.J.; Goslin, M.N.; Garman, S.L.; Spies, T.A.

2008-01-01

The complex mix of economic and ecological objectives facing today's forest managers necessitates the development of growth models with a capacity for simulating a wide range of forest conditions while producing outputs useful for economic analyses. We calibrated the gap model ZELIG to simulate stand-level forest development in the Oregon Coast Range as part of a landscape-scale assessment of different forest management strategies. Our goal was to incorporate the predictive ability of an empirical model with the flexibility of a forest succession model. We emphasized the development of commercial-aged stands of Douglas-fir, the dominant tree species in the study area and primary source of timber. In addition, we judged that the ecological approach of ZELIG would be robust to the variety of other forest conditions and practices encountered in the Coast Range, including mixed-species stands, small-scale gap formation, innovative silvicultural methods, and reserve areas where forests grow unmanaged for long periods of time. We parameterized the model to distinguish forest development among two ecoregions, three forest types and two site productivity classes using three data sources: chronosequences of forest inventory data, long-term research data, and simulations from an empirical growth-and-yield model. The calibrated model was tested with independent, long-term measurements from 11 Douglas-fir plots (6 unthinned, 5 thinned), 3 spruce-hemlock plots, and 1 red alder plot. ZELIG closely approximated developmental trajectories of basal area and large trees in the Douglas-fir plots. Differences between simulated and observed conifer basal area for these plots ranged from -2.6 to 2.4 m2/ha; differences in the number of trees/ha ???50 cm dbh ranged from -8.8 to 7.3 tph. Achieving these results required the use of a diameter-growth multiplier, suggesting some underlying constraints on tree growth such as the temperature response function. ZELIG also tended to overestimate regeneration of shade-tolerant trees and underestimate total tree density (i.e., higher rates of tree mortality). However, comparisons with the chronosequences of forest inventory data indicated that the simulated data are within the range of variability observed in the Coast Range. Further exploration and improvement of ZELIG is warranted in three key areas: (1) modeling rapid rates of conifer tree growth without the need for a diameter-growth multiplier; (2) understanding and remedying rates of tree mortality that were higher than those observed in the independent data; and (3) improving the tree regeneration module to account for competition with understory vegetation. ?? 2008 Elsevier B.V.

A scalable approach for tree segmentation within small-footprint airborne LiDAR data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamraz, Hamid; Contreras, Marco A.; Zhang, Jun

2017-05-01

This paper presents a distributed approach that scales up to segment tree crowns within a LiDAR point cloud representing an arbitrarily large forested area. The approach uses a single-processor tree segmentation algorithm as a building block in order to process the data delivered in the shape of tiles in parallel. The distributed processing is performed in a master-slave manner, in which the master maintains the global map of the tiles and coordinates the slaves that segment tree crowns within and across the boundaries of the tiles. A minimal bias was introduced to the number of detected trees because of trees lying across the tile boundaries, which was quantified and adjusted for. Theoretical and experimental analyses of the runtime of the approach revealed a near linear speedup. The estimated number of trees categorized by crown class and the associated error margins as well as the height distribution of the detected trees aligned well with field estimations, verifying that the distributed approach works correctly. The approach enables providing information of individual tree locations and point cloud segments for a forest-level area in a timely manner, which can be used to create detailed remotely sensed forest inventories. Although the approach was presented for tree segmentation within LiDAR point clouds, the idea can also be generalized to scale up processing other big spatial datasets.

Montana's forest resources, 2003-2009

Treesearch

Jim Menlove; John D. Shaw; Michael T. Thompson; Chris Witt; Michael C. Amacher; Todd A. Morgan; Colin Sorenson; Chelsea McIver; Charles Werstak

2012-01-01

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory information for Montana's forest lands. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, number of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, and removals. Most of the tables are organized by forest type group, species group, diameter class, or owner group. The report also describes...

Allometric scaling theory applied to FIA biomass estimation

Treesearch

David C. Chojnacky

2002-01-01

Tree biomass estimates in the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database are derived from numerous methodologies whose abundance and complexity raise questions about consistent results throughout the U.S. A new model based on allometric scaling theory ("WBE") offers simplified methodology and a theoretically sound basis for improving the reliability and...

Development of preventative streamside landslide buffers on managed timberlands

Treesearch

Jason S. Woodward; Matthew R. House; David W. Lamphear

2017-01-01

Shallow streamside landslides are a principle source of sediment on managed timberlands in northern California. Using an adaptive management process, LiDAR, and a detailed field-based landslide inventory, Green Diamond Resource Company (GDRCo) has redefined the interim preventative landslide tree-retention buffers it applies to steep streamside slopes along...

The forest resources of the Ottawa National Forest, 1993.

Treesearch

Earl C. Leatherberry; James L. Meunier

1997-01-01

The inventory of the forest resources of the Ottawa National Forest reports 967.0 thousand acres of land, of which 908.6 thousand acres are forested. This bulletin presents an analysis of forest resources focusing on change in tree species composition, timber volume, growth, removals, and mortality.

76 FR 36150 - Notice of Inventory Completion: Florida Department of State/Division of Historical Resources...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-06-21

....A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory and Dr. John Krigbaum, University of Florida, Department of... described as a multi-component black earth midden deposit on a relict Everglades tree island, associated... to the Florida Department of State/Division of Historical Resources for identification pending...

A forest health inventory assessment of red fir (Abies magnifica) in upper montane California

Treesearch

Leif Mortenson; Andrew N. Gray; David C. Shaw

2015-01-01

We investigated the forest health of red fir (Abies magnifica) and how it compared with commonly-associated species Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) and white fir (Abies concolor) in the upper montane forests of California. We evaluated tree mortality rates...

Estimating forest characteristics using NAIP imagery and ArcObjects

Treesearch

John S Hogland; Nathaniel M. Anderson; Woodam Chung; Lucas Wells

2014-01-01

Detailed, accurate, efficient, and inexpensive methods of estimating basal area, trees, and aboveground biomass per acre across broad extents are needed to effectively manage forests. In this study we present such a methodology using readily available National Agriculture Imagery Program imagery, Forest Inventory Analysis samples, a two stage classification and...

Wyoming's Forests, 2002

Treesearch

Michael T. Thompson; Larry T. DeBlander; Jock A. Blackard

2005-01-01

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory information for Wyoming's forest lands. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, number of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, removals, and net change. Most of the tables are organized by forest type, species, diameter class, or owner group. The report also describes...

Assessing Forest NPP: BIOME-BGC Predictions versus BEF Derived Estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasenauer, H.; Pietsch, S. A.; Petritsch, R.

2007-05-01

Forest productivity has always been a major issue within sustainable forest management. While in the past terrestrial forest inventory data have been the major source for assessing forest productivity, recent developments in ecosystem modeling offer an alternative approach using ecosystem models such as Biome-BGC to estimate Net Primary Production (NPP). In this study we compare two terrestrial driven approaches for assessing NPP: (i) estimates from a species specific adaptation of the biogeochemical ecosystem model BIOME-BGC calibrated for Alpine conditions; and (ii) NPP estimates derived from inventory data using biomass expansion factors (BEF). The forest inventory data come from 624 sample plots across Austria and consist of repeated individual tree observations and include growth as well as soil and humus information. These locations are covered with spruce, beech, oak, pine and larch stands, thus addressing the main Austrian forest types. 144 locations were previously used in a validating effort to produce species-specific parameter estimates of the ecosystem model. The remaining 480 sites are from the Austrian National Forest Soil Survey carried out at the Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape (BFW). By using diameter at breast height (dbh) and height (h) volume and subsequently biomass of individual trees were calculated, aggregated for the whole forest stand and compared with the model output. Regression analyses were performed for both volume and biomass estimates.

Psychological characteristics of eating disorders as evidenced by the combined administration of questionnaires and two projective methods: the Tree Drawing Test (Baum Test) and the Sentence Completion Test.

PubMed

Mizuta, Ichiro; Inoue, Yoichi; Fukunaga, Tomoko; Ishi, Ryohei; Ogawa, Asao; Takeda, Masatoshi

2002-02-01

The objective of this study is to examine psychological/psychopathological characteristics of eating disorders and their subtypes through a combined administration of questionnaires and projective tests. Three questionnaires (Eating Disorder Inventory - 2, Social Adaptation Scale, Southern California University Eating Disorder Inventory - Revised) and two projective tests (the Tree Drawing Test [TDT, Baum Test], and the Sentence Completion Test [SCT]) were administered to 126 female patients between the ages of 15 and 30 years, with eating disorders according to DSM-IV criteria at our outpatient clinic, and to 54 sex- and age-matched control subjects. The purging subtypes of eating disorders (anorexia nervosa - binge-eating/purging type [ANBP] and bulimia nervosa - purging type [BNP]) were clearly differentiated from the controls, both by the questionnaires and the projective tests. Compared with the controls, ANBP/BNP showed more problematic profiles across the three questionnaires, drew smaller and poorer trees in TDT to a more left location on the drawing paper, and gave fewer positive, and more negative responses in SCT. In contrast, few significant differences were found between anorexia nervosa- restricting type (ANR) and the controls, and between ANBP and BNP. As a trend, however, ANR was consistently located between the controls and ANBP/BNP across the whole questionnaires and projective tests.

Tree cover and species composition effects on academic performance of primary school students.

PubMed

Sivarajah, Sivajanani; Smith, Sandy M; Thomas, Sean C

2018-01-01

Human exposure to green space and vegetation is widely recognized to result in physical and mental health benefits; however, to date, the specific effects of tree cover, diversity, and species composition on student academic performance have not been investigated. We compiled standardized performance scores in Grades 3 and 6 for the collective student body in 387 schools across the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), and examined variation in relation to tree cover, tree diversity, and tree species composition based on comprehensive inventories of trees on school properties combined with aerial-photo-based assessments of tree cover. Analyses accounted for variation due to socioeconomic factors using the learning opportunity index (LOI), a regional composite index of external challenges to learning that incorporates income and other factors, such as students with English as a second language. As expected, LOI had the greatest influence on student academic performance; however, the proportion of tree cover, as distinct from other types of "green space" such as grass, was found to be a significant positive predictor of student performance, accounting for 13% of the variance explained in a statistical model predicting mean student performance assessments. The effects of tree cover and species composition were most pronounced in schools that showed the highest level of external challenges, suggesting the importance of urban forestry investments in these schools.

Tree cover and species composition effects on academic performance of primary school students

PubMed Central

Smith, Sandy M.; Thomas, Sean C.

2018-01-01

Human exposure to green space and vegetation is widely recognized to result in physical and mental health benefits; however, to date, the specific effects of tree cover, diversity, and species composition on student academic performance have not been investigated. We compiled standardized performance scores in Grades 3 and 6 for the collective student body in 387 schools across the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), and examined variation in relation to tree cover, tree diversity, and tree species composition based on comprehensive inventories of trees on school properties combined with aerial-photo-based assessments of tree cover. Analyses accounted for variation due to socioeconomic factors using the learning opportunity index (LOI), a regional composite index of external challenges to learning that incorporates income and other factors, such as students with English as a second language. As expected, LOI had the greatest influence on student academic performance; however, the proportion of tree cover, as distinct from other types of “green space” such as grass, was found to be a significant positive predictor of student performance, accounting for 13% of the variance explained in a statistical model predicting mean student performance assessments. The effects of tree cover and species composition were most pronounced in schools that showed the highest level of external challenges, suggesting the importance of urban forestry investments in these schools. PMID:29474503

The effects of urban warming on herbivore abundance and street tree condition.

PubMed

Dale, Adam G; Frank, Steven D

2014-01-01

Trees are essential to urban habitats because they provide services that benefit the environment and improve human health. Unfortunately, urban trees often have more herbivorous insect pests than rural trees but the mechanisms and consequences of these infestations are not well documented. Here, we examine how temperature affects the abundance of a scale insect, Melanaspis tenebricosa (Comstock) (Hemiptera: Diaspididae), on one of the most commonly planted street trees in the eastern U.S. Next, we examine how both pest abundance and temperature are associated with water stress, growth, and condition of 26 urban street trees. Although trees in the warmest urban sites grew the most, they were more water stressed and in worse condition than trees in cooler sites. Our analyses indicate that visible declines in tree condition were best explained by scale-insect infestation rather than temperature. To test the broader relevance of these results, we extend our analysis to a database of more than 2700 Raleigh, US street trees. Plotting these trees on a Landsat thermal image of Raleigh, we found that warmer sites had over 70% more trees in poor condition than those in cooler sites. Our results support previous studies linking warmer urban habitats to greater pest abundance and extend this association to show its effect on street tree condition. Our results suggest that street tree condition and ecosystem services may decline as urban expansion and global warming exacerbate the urban heat island effect. Although our non-probability sampling method limits our scope of inference, our results present a gloomy outlook for urban forests and emphasize the need for management tools. Existing urban tree inventories and thermal maps could be used to identify species that would be most suitable for urban conditions.

76 FR 2924 - Notice of Availability of the FY2010 Inventory of Service Contracts for the National...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-18

... Contracts for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) SUMMARY: In accordance with Section 743 of Division C of the FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Public Law 111-175, the NTSB announces the availability of the FY2010 inventory of service contracts. ADDRESSES: The inventory is available electronically...

Mississippi's forests, 2006

Treesearch

Sonja N. Oswalt; Tony G. Johnson; John W. Coulston; Christopher M. Oswalt

2009-01-01

Forest land covers 19.6 million acres in Mississippi, or about 65 percent of the land area. The majority of forests are classed as timberland. One hundred and thirty-seven tree species were measured on Mississippi forests in the 2006 inventory. Thirty six percent of Mississippi's forest land is classified as loblolly-shortleaf pine forest, 27 percent is classified...

Nevada's forest resources, 2004-2013

Treesearch

James Menlove; John D. Shaw; Christopher Witt; Charles Werstak; R. Justin DeRose; Sara A. Goeking; Michael C. Amacher; Todd A. Morgan; Colin B. Sorenson

2016-01-01

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory information for Nevada’s forest lands. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, number of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, and removals. Most of the tables are organized by forest-type group, species group, diameter class, or ownership. The report also describes...

Model-assisted estimation of forest resources with generalized additive models

Treesearch

Jean D. Opsomer; F. Jay Breidt; Gretchen G. Moisen; Goran Kauermann

2007-01-01

Multiphase surveys are often conducted in forest inventories, with the goal of estimating forested area and tree characteristics over large regions. This article describes how design-based estimation of such quantities, based on information gathered during ground visits of sampled plots, can be made more precise by incorporating auxiliary information available from...

Forest statistics for Southwest Arkansas counties

Treesearch

T. Richard Quick; Mary S. Hedlund

1979-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1978 inventory of 20 counties comprising the Southwest Unit of Arkansas (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...

Forest statistics for plateau Tennessee counties

Treesearch

Renewable Resources Evaluation Research Work Unit

1982-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1980 inventory of 16 counties comprising the Plateau Unit of Tennessee (fib. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...

Forest statistics for Northwest Louisiana Parishes

Treesearch

James F. Rosson; Daniel F. Bertelson

1985-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1984 inventory of 13 parishes comprising the Northwest unit of Louisiana (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...

Forest statistics for Southwest Louisiana parishes

Treesearch

James F. Rosson; Daniel F. Bertelson

1985-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1984 inventory of 11 parishes comprising the Southwest Unit of Louisiana (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...

Forest resources of Pennsylvania

Treesearch

Richard H. Widmann; Richard H. Widmann

1995-01-01

Phis report presents an analysis of the results of the 1989 forest inventory of Pennsylvania as well as trends that habe occurred since the previous survey. Major topics include changes in forest land by ownership, forest type, and timberland component7 stand structure is charaterized by stand size, understory woody vegetation, dead trees, and changes in relative...

Aspen, climate, and sudden decline in western USA

Treesearch

Gerald E. Rehfeldt; Dennis E. Ferguson; Nicholas L. Crookston

2009-01-01

A bioclimate model predicting the presence or absence of aspen, Populus tremuloides, in western USA from climate variables was developed by using the Random Forests classification tree on Forest Inventory data from about 118,000 permanent sample plots. A reasonably parsimonious model used eight predictors to describe aspen's climate profile. Classification errors...

Rooting and vegetative growth of hardwood cuttings of 12 pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) cultivars

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Commercial pomegranate acreage has increased substantially in the western hemisphere due to increased consumer interest in the fruit. Low nursery inventory has caused many growers to propagate their own trees and the availability of only a few cultivars is believed to have played a role in a lack of...

An evaluation of FIA's stand age variable

Treesearch

John D. Shaw

2015-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis Database (FIADB) includes a large number of measured and computed variables. The definitions of measured variables are usually well-documented in FIA field and database manuals. Some computed variables, such as live basal area of the condition, are equally straightforward. Other computed variables, such as individual tree volume,...

Novel characterization of landscape-level variability in historical vegetation structure

Treesearch

Brandon M. Collins; Jamie M. Lydersen; Richard G. Everett; Danny L. Fry; Scott L. Stephens

2015-01-01

We analyzed historical timber inventory data collected systematically across a large mixed-conifer-dominated landscape to gain insight into the interaction between disturbances and vegetation structure and composition prior to 20th century land management practices. Using records from over 20 000 trees, we quantified historical vegetation structure and composition for...

How to use the Stand-Damage Model: Version 2.0. (Computer program)

Treesearch

J.J. Colbert; George Racin

2001-01-01

The Stand-Damage Model simulates the growth of a forest stand, a spatially homogeneous collection of trees growing on a site. The model simulates growth from an initial inventory, user-prescribed management practices, and the effects of gypsy moth defoliation. Here we provide installation and operating instructions for Version 2.0.

Models for estimation and simulation of crown and canopy cover

Treesearch

John D. Shaw

2005-01-01

Crown width measurements collected during Forest Inventory and Analysis and Forest Health Monitoring surveys are being used to develop individual tree crown width models and plot-level canopy cover models for species and forest types in the Intermountain West. Several model applications are considered in the development process, including remote sensing of plot...

Needed: Guidelines for defining acceptable advance regeneration

Treesearch

Dennis E. Ferguson

1984-01-01

Advance regeneration is an important component in many stands scheduled for harvesting. Properly managed, such regeneration can contribute to a healthy, new stand, but too often trees do not quickly respond to the new environment or take too long to adjust. Definitions of acceptable advance regeneration are needed for pre- and postharvest inventories. The author...

Landscape-level regeneration adequacy for native hardwood forests of Pennsylvania

Treesearch

William H. McWilliams; Todd W. Bowersox; David A. Gansner; Larry H. McCormick; Susan L. Stout

1995-01-01

Studies of advance regeneration and post-disturbance regeneration adequacy were conducted during the recent USDA Forest Service inventory of forest resources in Pennsylvania. The first study examined advance tree-seedling regeneration in stands where stocking levels would suggest that advance regeneration should be abundant. A range of metrics was used to describe...

On the variation of inventory estimates for redwood stands

Treesearch

Daniel Opalach

2017-01-01

There is a tremendous amount of variation in the second growth redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.) forests found along the North Coast of California. In order to make prudent management decisions about these forests, foresters and other resource professionals often conduct timber cruises to collect information on tree species, diameters,...

Iowa's forest resources in 2000

Treesearch

Joseph T. II Boykin

2003-01-01

Results of the 2000 annual inventory of Iowa show that there are as estimated 2.5 million acres of forest land; 3.2 billion cubic feet of all live volume on timberland; and 87 million dry tons of all live aboveground tree biomass on timberland. Known pathogens and pests in Iowa's forets include oak wilt and gypsy moth.

Regime shifts and weakened environmental gradients in open oak and pine ecosystems

Treesearch

Brice B. Hanberry; Dan C. Dey; Hong S. He

2012-01-01

Fire suppression allows tree species that are intolerant of fire stress to increase their distribution, potentially resulting in disruption of historical species-environmental relationships. To measure changes between historical General Land Office surveys (1815 to 1850) and current USDA Forest Inventory and Assessment surveys (2004 to 2008), we compared composition,...

User's Guide to the Stand Prognosis Model

Treesearch

William R. Wykoff; Nicholas L. Crookston; Albert R. Stage

1982-01-01

The Stand Prognosis Model is a computer program that projects the development of forest stands in the Northern Rocky Mountains. Thinning options allow for simulation of a variety of management strategies. Input consists of a stand inventory, including sample tree records, and a set of option selection instructions. Output includes data normally found in stand, stock,...

Effect of tree thinning and litter removal on the radiocesium (Cs-134, 137) discharge rates in the Kawauchi forest plantation (Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

López-Vicente, Manuel; Onda, Yuichi; Takahashi, Junko; Kato, Hiroaki; Hisadome, Keigo

2016-04-01

On 11 March 2011 a 9.0 earthquake and the resulting tsunami occurred in central-eastern Japan triggering, one day after, the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (DNPP) accident. Despite the bulk of radionuclides (ca. 80%) were transported offshore and out over the Pacific Ocean, significant wet and dry deposits of those radionuclides occurred mainly in the Fukushima Prefecture and in a minor way in the Miyagi, Tochigi, Gunma and Ibaraki Prefectures. As a consequence and among other radionuclides, a total of 511,000 TBq of I-131, 13,500 TBq of Cs-134 and 13,600 TBq of Cs-137 were released into the atmosphere and the ocean, contaminating cultivated soils, rivers, settlements and forested areas. This accident caused severe environmental and economic damages. Several decontamination practices have done, including tree thinning and litter removal within the forests and tree plantations. In this study we analysed the effect of eight different management practices on the radiocesium (Cs-134 and Cs-137) discharge rates during 20 months (May'2013 - Dec'2014) in a Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) plantation (stand age of 57 years), located in a hillslope near the Kawauchi village, Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan. This study area (37⁰ 20' 04" N, 140⁰ 53' 13.5" E) is located 16 km southwestern from the DNPP and within the evacuation area. The soils are Andosols. Ten runoff plots (5 x 2 meters) were installed and measurements started on May 2013. Two plots remained without any treatment as control plots and the other eight plots represented the following management practices: Mng1) Litter removal + clear-cutting (no sheet); Mng2) Litter removal + clear-cutting (no sheet); Mng3) Litter removal + clear-cutting (no sheet); Mng4) Litter removal; Mng5) Thinning (logged area); Mng6) Thinning (under remnant trees); Mng7) Litter removal + thinning (logged area); Mng8) Litter removal + thinning (under remnant trees). Each plot had a gauging station and sediment samples were collected every three weeks. Litter removal and tree thinning were done twice. The minimum of ground and vegetation coverages occurred in May and June 2013 and between February and April 2014. The maximum coverages appeared in September-October 2013 and between July and September 2014. The radioactivities of Cs-134 and Cs-137 were determined in the soil and litter fractions by gamma-ray spectrometry. Emissions were measured using a high purity n-type Ge coaxial detector coupled to an amplified and multichannel analyser at the CRiED laboratory of the University of Tsukuba. The activity concentration (Bq / kg) of Cs-134 and Cs-137 were calculated as well as the inventory (Bq / m2) and daily inventory (Bq / m2 day) of Cs-137. A total of 70 correlations were analysed: between the dry weight of the leaf and soil and the corresponding activity of Cs-134 and Cs-137 as well as between the total movement and total daily movement of leaf and soil and the inventory and daily inventory of Cs-137. The amount of soil and caesium movement in the experimental slopes was considerably decreased in the year 2014 than in 2013 due to the vegetation recovery after the operations in each plot.

Mapping Understory Trees Using Airborne Discrete-Return LIDAR Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korpela, I.; Hovi, A.; Morsdorf, F.

2011-09-01

Understory trees in multi-layer stands are often ignored in forest inventories. Information about them would benefit silviculture, wood procurement and biodiversity management. Cost-efficient inventory methods for the assessment of the presence, density, species- and size-distributions are called for. LiDAR remote sensing is a promising addition to field work. Unlike in passive image data, in which the signals from multiple layers mix, the 3D position of each hot-spot reflection is known in LiDAR data. The overstory however prevents from obtaining a wall-to-wall sample of understory, and measurements are subject to transmission losses. Discriminating between the crowns of dominant and suppressed trees can also be challenging. We examined the potential of LiDAR for the mapping of the understory trees in Scots pine stands (62°N, 24°E), using carefully georeferenced reference data and several LiDAR data sets. We present results that highlight differences in echo-triggering between sensors that affect the near-ground height data. A conceptual model for the transmission losses in the overstory was created and formulated into simple compensation models that reduced the intensity variation in second- and third return data. The task is highly ill-posed in discrete-return LiDAR data, and our models employed the geometry of the overstory as well as the intensity of previous returns. We showed that even first-return data in the understory is subject to losses in the overstory that did not trigger an echo. Even with compensation of the losses, the intensity data was deemed of low value in species discrimination. Area-based LiDAR height metrics that were derived from the data belonging to the crown volume of the understory showed reasonable correlation with the density and mean height of the understory trees. Assessment of the species seems out of reach in discrete-return LiDAR data, which is a drastic drawback.

[RS estimation of inventory parameters and carbon storage of moso bamboo forest based on synergistic use of object-based image analysis and decision tree].

PubMed

Du, Hua Qiang; Sun, Xiao Yan; Han, Ning; Mao, Fang Jie

2017-10-01

By synergistically using the object-based image analysis (OBIA) and the classification and regression tree (CART) methods, the distribution information, the indexes (including diameter at breast, tree height, and crown closure), and the aboveground carbon storage (AGC) of moso bamboo forest in Shanchuan Town, Anji County, Zhejiang Province were investigated. The results showed that the moso bamboo forest could be accurately delineated by integrating the multi-scale ima ge segmentation in OBIA technique and CART, which connected the image objects at various scales, with a pretty good producer's accuracy of 89.1%. The investigation of indexes estimated by regression tree model that was constructed based on the features extracted from the image objects reached normal or better accuracy, in which the crown closure model archived the best estimating accuracy of 67.9%. The estimating accuracy of diameter at breast and tree height was relatively low, which was consistent with conclusion that estimating diameter at breast and tree height using optical remote sensing could not achieve satisfactory results. Estimation of AGC reached relatively high accuracy, and accuracy of the region of high value achieved above 80%.

Nutrition facts and limits for micronutrients in tree species used in urban forestry.

PubMed

Brun, Flávia G K; Brun, Eleandro J; Gerber, Dionatan; Szymczak, Denise A; Londero, Eduardo K; Meyer, Evandro A; Navroski, Márcio C

2017-01-01

There is a huge lack of researches that evaluate the nutritional limits in tree species used in urban forestry, especially in terms of micronutrients. This study aimed to establish limits and range of micronutrients levels for the proper development of tree species utilized in urban forestry. The study was conducted in the city of Santa Maria-RS-Brazil. Through forest inventory, 23 forest species present in urban forest were selected, and 05 vegetative branches of each tree were collected, in which the contents of B, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn were analyzed. Ranges of micronutrients' contents were developed for class limits criteria. Nutritional problems were detected for B, Cu and Zn in G. robusta and S. cumini, indicating a need of fertilization and management of these trees. The levels of Mn were within an adequate range only for the species C. illinoensis and H. chrysotrichus. The contents of B were higher than the level considered adequate for H. chrysotrichusand M. nigra. The rates of Fe showed high levels for E. japonica, H. chrysotrichusand S. babylonica. The estimated nutritional limits enable a greater control in the classification of the results for each tree species utilized in urban forestry.

Pulse-radiolysis studies on the interaction of one-electron reduced species with blue oxidases. Reduction of native and type-2-copper-depleted Vietnamese-lacquer-tree and Japanese-lacquer-tree laccases.

PubMed

O'Neill, P; Fielden, E M; Morpurgo, L; Agostinelli, E

1984-08-15

The interactions of one-electron reduced metronidazole (ArNO2.-) and O2.- with native and Type-2-copper-depleted Vietnamese- and Japanese-lacquer-tree laccases were studied in aqueous solution at pH 6.0 and 7.4 by using the technique of pulse radiolysis. On reaction with ArNO2.-, in the absence of O2, the holo- and the Type-2-copper-depleted proteins accept, with reduction of Type 1 copper, 2 and 1 reducing equivalents respectively. On reaction with O2.- of both holo- and Type-2-copper-depleted Vietnamese-lacquer-tree laccase, almost complete reduction of Type 1 copper was observed and, after completion of the reaction, some (less than 20%) reoxidation of Type 1 copper occurs. Reduction of Type 1 copper of the laccases by these one-electron donors occurs via a bimolecular step; however, the rate of reduction of Vietnamese-lacquer-tree laccase is over 10 times that of Japanese-lacquer-tree laccase. It is inferred that electrons enter the protein via Type 1 copper with, in the case of the holoprotein, subsequent rapid intramolecular transfer of 1 reducing equivalent within the protein. Furthermore it is suggested that intra-molecular electron transfer to Type 3 copper atoms is slow and, in the case of Type-2-copper-depleted protein, may not occur. This slow process may partially account for the variation of the catalytic activities of 'blue' oxidases.

Slow growth rates of Amazonian trees: Consequences for carbon cycling

PubMed Central

Vieira, Simone; Trumbore, Susan; Camargo, Plinio B.; Selhorst, Diogo; Chambers, Jeffrey Q.; Higuchi, Niro; Martinelli, Luiz Antonio

2005-01-01

Quantifying age structure and tree growth rate of Amazonian forests is essential for understanding their role in the carbon cycle. Here, we use radiocarbon dating and direct measurement of diameter increment to document unexpectedly slow growth rates for trees from three locations spanning the Brazilian Amazon basin. Central Amazon trees, averaging only ≈1mm/year diameter increment, grow half as fast as those from areas with more seasonal rainfall to the east and west. Slow growth rates mean that trees can attain great ages; across our sites we estimate 17-50% of trees with diameter >10 cm have ages exceeding 300 years. Whereas a few emergent trees that make up a large portion of the biomass grow faster, small trees that are more abundant grow slowly and attain ages of hundreds of years. The mean age of carbon in living trees (60-110 years) is within the range of or slightly longer than the mean residence time calculated from C inventory divided by annual C allocation to wood growth (40-100 years). Faster C turnover is observed in stands with overall higher rates of diameter increment and a larger fraction of the biomass in large, fast-growing trees. As a consequence, forests can recover biomass relatively quickly after disturbance, whereas recovering species composition may take many centuries. Carbon cycle models that apply a single turnover time for carbon in forest biomass do not account for variations in life strategy and therefore may overestimate the carbon sequestration potential of Amazon forests. PMID:16339903

Determining Geometric Parameters of Agricultural Trees from Laser Scanning Data Obtained with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadas, E.; Jozkow, G.; Walicka, A.; Borkowski, A.

2018-05-01

The estimation of dendrometric parameters has become an important issue for agriculture planning and for the efficient management of orchards. Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS) data is widely used in forestry and many algorithms for automatic estimation of dendrometric parameters of individual forest trees were developed. Unfortunately, due to significant differences between forest and fruit trees, some contradictions exist against adopting the achievements of forestry science to agricultural studies indiscriminately. In this study we present the methodology to identify individual trees in apple orchard and estimate heights of individual trees, using high-density LiDAR data (3200 points/m2) obtained with Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) equipped with Velodyne HDL32-E sensor. The processing strategy combines the alpha-shape algorithm, principal component analysis (PCA) and detection of local minima. The alpha-shape algorithm is used to separate tree rows. In order to separate trees in a single row, we detect local minima on the canopy profile and slice polygons from alpha-shape results. We successfully separated 92 % of trees in the test area. 6 % of trees in orchard were not separated from each other and 2 % were sliced into two polygons. The RMSE of tree heights determined from the point clouds compared to field measurements was equal to 0.09 m, and the correlation coefficient was equal to 0.96. The results confirm the usefulness of LiDAR data from UAV platform in orchard inventory.

Determining the Optimal Inventory Management Policy for Naval Medical Center San Diego’s Pharmacy

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-12-01

electronic or other system that the pharmacy’s staff can use to determine the actual on hand inventory of any items. If a pharmacist , technician or...pharmacy’s inventory: price, utilization, mix, and innovation (American Society for Health-System Pharmacists [ASHP], 2008). (1) Price Price is the cost...or the Pareto Principle can determine the best way to allocate resources and help plan inventory (American Society for Health-System Pharmacists

Individual tree crown delineation using localized contour tree method and airborne LiDAR data in coniferous forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Bin; Yu, Bailang; Wu, Qiusheng; Huang, Yan; Chen, Zuoqi; Wu, Jianping

2016-10-01

Individual tree crown delineation is of great importance for forest inventory and management. The increasing availability of high-resolution airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data makes it possible to delineate the crown structure of individual trees and deduce their geometric properties with high accuracy. In this study, we developed an automated segmentation method that is able to fully utilize high-resolution LiDAR data for detecting, extracting, and characterizing individual tree crowns with a multitude of geometric and topological properties. The proposed approach captures topological structure of forest and quantifies topological relationships of tree crowns by using a graph theory-based localized contour tree method, and finally segments individual tree crowns by analogy of recognizing hills from a topographic map. This approach consists of five key technical components: (1) derivation of canopy height model from airborne LiDAR data; (2) generation of contours based on the canopy height model; (3) extraction of hierarchical structures of tree crowns using the localized contour tree method; (4) delineation of individual tree crowns by segmenting hierarchical crown structure; and (5) calculation of geometric and topological properties of individual trees. We applied our new method to the Medicine Bow National Forest in the southwest of Laramie, Wyoming and the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest in the central portion of the Cascade Range of Oregon, U.S. The results reveal that the overall accuracy of individual tree crown delineation for the two study areas achieved 94.21% and 75.07%, respectively. Our method holds great potential for segmenting individual tree crowns under various forest conditions. Furthermore, the geometric and topological attributes derived from our method provide comprehensive and essential information for forest management.

Context-sensitive extraction of tree crown objects in urban areas using VHR satellite images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ardila, Juan P.; Bijker, Wietske; Tolpekin, Valentyn A.; Stein, Alfred

2012-04-01

Municipalities need accurate and updated inventories of urban vegetation in order to manage green resources and estimate their return on investment in urban forestry activities. Earlier studies have shown that semi-automatic tree detection using remote sensing is a challenging task. This study aims to develop a reproducible geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) methodology to locate and delineate tree crowns in urban areas using high resolution imagery. We propose a GEOBIA approach that considers the spectral, spatial and contextual characteristics of tree objects in the urban space. The study presents classification rules that exploit object features at multiple segmentation scales modifying the labeling and shape of image-objects. The GEOBIA methodology was implemented on QuickBird images acquired over the cities of Enschede and Delft (The Netherlands), resulting in an identification rate of 70% and 82% respectively. False negative errors concentrated on small trees and false positive errors in private gardens. The quality of crown boundaries was acceptable, with an overall delineation error <0.24 outside of gardens and backyards.

Integration of Remote Sensing Products with Ground-Based Measurements to Understand the Dynamics of Nepal's Forests and Plantation Sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gilani, H.; Jain, A. K.

2016-12-01

This study assembles information from three sources - remote sensing, terrestrial photography and ground-based inventory data, to understand the dynamics of Nepal's tropical and sub-tropical forests and plantation sites for the period 1990-2015. Our study focuses on following three specific district areas, which have conserved forests through social and agroforestry management practices: 1. Dolakha district: This site has been selected to study the impact of community-based forest management on land cover change using repeat photography and satellite imagery, in combination with interviews with community members. The study time period is during the period 1990-2010. We determined that satellite data with ground photographs can provide transparency for long term monitoring. The initial results also suggests that community-based forest management program in the mid-hills of Nepal was successful. 2. Chitwan district: Here we use high resolution remote sensing data and optimized community field inventories to evaluate potential application and operational feasibility of community level REDD+ measuring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems. The study uses temporal dynamics of land cover transitions, tree canopy size classes and biomass over a Kayar khola watershed REDD+ study area with community forest to evaluate satellite Image segmentation for land cover, linear regression model for above ground biomass (AGB), and estimation and monitoring field data for tree crowns and AGB. We study three specific years 2002, 2009, 2012. Using integration of WorldView-2 and airborne LiDAR data for tree species level. 3. Nuwakot district: This district was selected to study the impact of establishment of tree plantation on total barren/fallow. Over the last 40 year, this area has went through a drastic changes, from barren land to forest area with tree species consisting of Dalbergia sissoo, Leucaena leucocephala, Michelia champaca, etc. In 1994, this district area was registered and established to grow and process high quality trees shaded of Arabica coffee beans. Here we use temporal satellite images and repeat terrestrial and aerial photographs, along with plot level biomass to show impact of this positive transformation of the landscape on above and below ground carbon masses. The study time period is 1990-2015.

Whole genome duplication events in plant evolution reconstructed and predicted using myosin motor proteins

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background The evolution of land plants is characterized by whole genome duplications (WGD), which drove species diversification and evolutionary novelties. Detecting these events is especially difficult if they date back to the origin of the plant kingdom. Established methods for reconstructing WGDs include intra- and inter-genome comparisons, KS age distribution analyses, and phylogenetic tree constructions. Results By analysing 67 completely sequenced plant genomes 775 myosins were identified and manually assembled. Phylogenetic trees of the myosin motor domains revealed orthologous and paralogous relationships and were consistent with recent species trees. Based on the myosin inventories and the phylogenetic trees, we have identified duplications of the entire myosin motor protein family at timings consistent with 23 WGDs, that had been reported before. We also predict 6 WGDs based on further protein family duplications. Notably, the myosin data support the two recently reported WGDs in the common ancestor of all extant angiosperms. We predict single WGDs in the Manihot esculenta and Nicotiana benthamiana lineages, two WGDs for Linum usitatissimum and Phoenix dactylifera, and a triplication or two WGDs for Gossypium raimondii. Our data show another myosin duplication in the ancestor of the angiosperms that could be either the result of a single gene duplication or a remnant of a WGD. Conclusions We have shown that the myosin inventories in angiosperms retain evidence of numerous WGDs that happened throughout plant evolution. In contrast to other protein families, many myosins are still present in extant species. They are closely related and have similar domain architectures, and their phylogenetic grouping follows the genome duplications. Because of its broad taxonomic sampling the dataset provides the basis for reliable future identification of further whole genome duplications. PMID:24053117

Whole genome duplication events in plant evolution reconstructed and predicted using myosin motor proteins.

PubMed

Mühlhausen, Stefanie; Kollmar, Martin

2013-09-22

The evolution of land plants is characterized by whole genome duplications (WGD), which drove species diversification and evolutionary novelties. Detecting these events is especially difficult if they date back to the origin of the plant kingdom. Established methods for reconstructing WGDs include intra- and inter-genome comparisons, KS age distribution analyses, and phylogenetic tree constructions. By analysing 67 completely sequenced plant genomes 775 myosins were identified and manually assembled. Phylogenetic trees of the myosin motor domains revealed orthologous and paralogous relationships and were consistent with recent species trees. Based on the myosin inventories and the phylogenetic trees, we have identified duplications of the entire myosin motor protein family at timings consistent with 23 WGDs, that had been reported before. We also predict 6 WGDs based on further protein family duplications. Notably, the myosin data support the two recently reported WGDs in the common ancestor of all extant angiosperms. We predict single WGDs in the Manihot esculenta and Nicotiana benthamiana lineages, two WGDs for Linum usitatissimum and Phoenix dactylifera, and a triplication or two WGDs for Gossypium raimondii. Our data show another myosin duplication in the ancestor of the angiosperms that could be either the result of a single gene duplication or a remnant of a WGD. We have shown that the myosin inventories in angiosperms retain evidence of numerous WGDs that happened throughout plant evolution. In contrast to other protein families, many myosins are still present in extant species. They are closely related and have similar domain architectures, and their phylogenetic grouping follows the genome duplications. Because of its broad taxonomic sampling the dataset provides the basis for reliable future identification of further whole genome duplications.

A European inventory of common electronic health record data elements for clinical trial feasibility

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Clinical studies are a necessity for new medications and therapies. Many studies, however, struggle to meet their recruitment numbers in time or have problems in meeting them at all. With increasing numbers of electronic health records (EHRs) in hospitals, huge databanks emerge that could be utilized to support research. The Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI) funded project ‘Electronic Health Records for Clinical Research’ (EHR4CR) created a standardized and homogenous inventory of data elements to support research by utilizing EHRs. Our aim was to develop a Data Inventory that contains elements required for site feasibility analysis. Methods The Data Inventory was created in an iterative, consensus driven approach, by a group of up to 30 people consisting of pharmaceutical experts and informatics specialists. An initial list was subsequently expanded by data elements of simplified eligibility criteria from clinical trial protocols. Each element was manually reviewed by pharmaceutical experts and standard definitions were identified and added. To verify their availability, data exports of the source systems at eleven university hospitals throughout Europe were conducted and evaluated. Results The Data Inventory consists of 75 data elements that, on the one hand are frequently used in clinical studies, and on the other hand are available in European EHR systems. Rankings of data elements were created from the results of the data exports. In addition a sub-list was created with 21 data elements that were separated from the Data Inventory because of their low usage in routine documentation. Conclusion The data elements in the Data Inventory were identified with the knowledge of domain experts from pharmaceutical companies. Currently, not all information that is frequently used in site feasibility is documented in routine patient care. PMID:24410735

National Tree Climbing Guide [2015 Electronic Edition

Treesearch

Jerry Berdeen; Burnham Chamberlain; Teryl Grubb; Art Henderson; Brock Mayo; Manfred Mielke; Kathryn Purcell; Dennis Ringnes; Marc Roberts; Donna Stubbs; Micah Thorning

2015-01-01

The Forest Service Tree Climbing Program provides direction that protects Forest Service employees while ascending, descending, and working aloft in trees by establishing national direction based on recognized industry standards, procedures and practices. Climbing and working in trees demands specialized equipment and skills. The potential for a serious injury or fatal...

Drought as a driver of declining boreal forest growth: Integrating forest inventory measurements with models to gain insight into underlying mechanisms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trugman, A. T.; Medvigy, D.; Anderegg, W.; Caspersen, J.; Zeng, H.; Pacala, S. W.

2016-12-01

Boreal forests contain over 30% of Earth's terrestrial carbon and are an important component of the land carbon sink. However, the future ability of the boreal forest to maintain a net carbon sink is uncertain and depends on potentially compensating interactions of CO2 fertilization, warmer temperatures, and hotter drought conditions. Observational studies have attributed drought as a major driver of recent declines in growth and increases in mortality in many parts of the North American boreal forest. Yet, most vegetation models have a simplistic representation of vegetation water stress and fail to capture drought-associated growth and mortality trends, impacting our ability to accurately forecast the effects of climate change on the boreal forest. Here, we show additional evidence for widespread declines in boreal tree growth and increasing insect-related mortality in aspen trees based on a mixed model analysis of the Cooperative Alaska Forest Inventory. Our findings indicate that the growth decline is controlled by high midsummer potential evapotranspiration that overpowers any CO2 fertilization signal. We also observe a possible shift in the distribution of angiosperm and gymnosperm, a biological transition that could impact long-term local carbon dynamics. Using insight gained from our mixed model analysis, we perform a regional-scale model evaluation using the boreal forest version of Ecosystem Demography model 2 that includes a dynamic soil organic layer, 7 boreal-specific plant functional types, and a fully mechanistic plant hydraulic scheme. We then use both the Alaskan and Canadian Forest Inventories to constrain our hypotheses and assess whether drought related growth declines can be better attributed to tree drought response from (1) carbon starvation, (2) permanent damage of hydraulic machinery, or (3) delayed recovery of hydraulic machinery. Under each of these scenarios we forecast how drought potentially impacts decadal-scale boreal carbon dynamics.

Shifts in indigenous culture relate to forest tree diversity: a case study from the Tsimane', Bolivian Amazon.

PubMed

Guèze, Maximilien; Luz, Ana Catarina; Paneque-Gálvez, Jaime; Macía, Manuel J; Orta-Martínez, Martí; Pino, Joan; Reyes-García, Victoria

2015-06-01

Understanding how indigenous peoples' management practices relate to biological diversity requires addressing contemporary changes in indigenous peoples' way of life. This study explores the association between cultural change among a Bolivian Amazonian indigenous group, the Tsimane', and tree diversity in forests surrounding their villages. We interviewed 86 informants in six villages about their level of attachment to traditional Tsimane' values, our proxy for cultural change. We estimated tree diversity (Fisher's Alpha index) by inventorying trees in 48 0.1-ha plots in old-growth forests distributed in the territory of the same villages. We used multivariate models to assess the relation between cultural change and alpha tree diversity. Cultural change was associated with alpha tree diversity and the relation showed an inverted U-shape, thus suggesting that tree alpha diversity peaked in villages undergoing intermediate cultural change. Although the results do not allow for testing the direction of the relation, we propose that cultural change relates to tree diversity through the changes in practices and behaviors that affect the traditional ecological knowledge of Tsimane' communities; further research is needed to determine the causality. Our results also find support in the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, and suggest that indigenous management can be seen as an intermediate form of anthropogenic disturbance affecting forest communities in a subtle, non-destructive way.

Shifts in indigenous culture relate to forest tree diversity: a case study from the Tsimane’, Bolivian Amazon

PubMed Central

Guèze, Maximilien; Luz, Ana Catarina; Paneque-Gálvez, Jaime; Macía, Manuel J.; Orta-Martínez, Martí; Pino, Joan; Reyes-García, Victoria

2015-01-01

Understanding how indigenous peoples’ management practices relate to biological diversity requires addressing contemporary changes in indigenous peoples’ way of life. This study explores the association between cultural change among a Bolivian Amazonian indigenous group, the Tsimane’, and tree diversity in forests surrounding their villages. We interviewed 86 informants in six villages about their level of attachment to traditional Tsimane’ values, our proxy for cultural change. We estimated tree diversity (Fisher’s Alpha index) by inventorying trees in 48 0.1-ha plots in old-growth forests distributed in the territory of the same villages. We used multivariate models to assess the relation between cultural change and alpha tree diversity. Cultural change was associated with alpha tree diversity and the relation showed an inverted U-shape, thus suggesting that tree alpha diversity peaked in villages undergoing intermediate cultural change. Although the results do not allow for testing the direction of the relation, we propose that cultural change relates to tree diversity through the changes in practices and behaviors that affect the traditional ecological knowledge of Tsimane’ communities; further research is needed to determine the causality. Our results also find support in the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, and suggest that indigenous management can be seen as an intermediate form of anthropogenic disturbance affecting forest communities in a subtle, non-destructive way. PMID:26097240

Long-term tree inventory data from mountain forest plots in France.

PubMed

Fuhr, Marc; Cordonnier, Thomas; Courbaud, Benoît; Kunstler, Georges; Mermin, Eric; Riond, Catherine; Tardif, Pascal

2017-04-01

We present repeated tree measurement data from 63 permanent plots in mountain forests in France. Plot elevations range from 800 (lower limit of the montane belt) to 1942 m above sea level (subalpine belt). Forests mainly consist of pure or mixed stands dominated by European beech (Fagus sylvatica), Silver fir (Abies alba), and Norway spruce (Picea abies), in association with various broadleaved species at low elevation and with Arolla pine (Pinus cembra) at high elevation. The plot network includes 23 plots in stands that have not been managed for the last 40 years (at least) and 40 plots in plots managed according to an uneven-aged system with single-tree or small-group selection cutting. Plot sizes range from 0.2 to 1.9 ha. Plots were installed from 1994 to 2004 and remeasured two to five times during the 1994-2015 period. During the first census (installation), living trees more than 7.5 cm in dbh were identified, their diameter at breast height (dbh) was measured and their social status (strata) noted. Trees were spatially located, either with x, y, and z coordinates (40 plots) or within 0.25-ha square subplots (23 plots). In addition, in a subset of plots (58 plots), tree heights and tree crown dimensions were measured on a subset of trees and dead standing trees and stumps were included in the census. Remeasurements after installation include live tree diameters (including recruited trees), tree status (living, damaged, dead, stump), and for a subset of trees, height. At the time of establishment of the plots, plot densities range from 181 to 1328 stems/ha and plot basal areas range from 13.6 to 81.3 m 2 /ha. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Novel characterization of landscape-level variability in historical vegetation structure.

PubMed

Collins, Brandon M; Lydersen, Jamie M; Everett, Richard G; Fry, Danny L; Stephens, Scott L

2015-07-01

We analyzed historical timber inventory data collected systematically across a large mixed-conifer-dominated landscape to gain insight into the interaction between disturbances and vegetation structure and composition prior to 20th century land management practices. Using records from over 20 000 trees, we quantified historical vegetation structure and composition for nine distinct vegetation groups. Our findings highlight some key aspects of forest structure under an intact disturbance regime: (1) forests were low density, with mean live basal area and tree density ranging from 8-30 m2 /ha and 25-79 trees/ha, respectively; (2) understory and overstory structure and composition varied considerably across the landscape; and (3) elevational gradients largely explained variability in forest structure over the landscape. Furthermore, the presence of large trees across most of the surveyed area suggests that extensive stand-replacing disturbances were rare in these forests. The vegetation structure and composition characteristics we quantified, along with evidence of largely elevational control on these characteristics, can provide guidance for restoration efforts in similar forests.

Tree height–diameter allometry across the United States

PubMed Central

Hulshof, Catherine M; Swenson, Nathan G; Weiser, Michael D

2015-01-01

The relationship between tree height and diameter is fundamental in determining community and ecosystem structure as well as estimates of biomass and carbon storage. Yet our understanding of how tree allometry relates to climate and whole organismal function is limited. We used the Forest Inventory and Analysis National Program database to determine height–diameter allometries of 2,976,937 individuals of 293 tree species across the United States. The shape of the allometric relationship was determined by comparing linear and nonlinear functional forms. Mixed-effects models were used to test for allometric differences due to climate and floristic (between angiosperms and gymnosperms) and functional groups (leaf habit and shade tolerance). Tree allometry significantly differed across the United States largely because of climate. Temperature, and to some extent precipitation, in part explained tree allometric variation. The magnitude of allometric variation due to climate, however, had a phylogenetic signal. Specifically, angiosperm allometry was more sensitive to differences in temperature compared to gymnosperms. Most notably, angiosperm height was more negatively influenced by increasing temperature variability, whereas gymnosperm height was negatively influenced by decreasing precipitation and increasing altitude. There was little evidence to suggest that shade tolerance influenced tree allometry except for very shade-intolerant trees which were taller for any given diameter. Tree allometry is plastic rather than fixed and scaling parameters vary around predicted central tendencies. This allometric variation provides insight into life-history strategies, phylogenetic history, and environmental limitations at biogeographical scales. PMID:25859325

Tree height-diameter allometry across the United States.

PubMed

Hulshof, Catherine M; Swenson, Nathan G; Weiser, Michael D

2015-03-01

The relationship between tree height and diameter is fundamental in determining community and ecosystem structure as well as estimates of biomass and carbon storage. Yet our understanding of how tree allometry relates to climate and whole organismal function is limited. We used the Forest Inventory and Analysis National Program database to determine height-diameter allometries of 2,976,937 individuals of 293 tree species across the United States. The shape of the allometric relationship was determined by comparing linear and nonlinear functional forms. Mixed-effects models were used to test for allometric differences due to climate and floristic (between angiosperms and gymnosperms) and functional groups (leaf habit and shade tolerance). Tree allometry significantly differed across the United States largely because of climate. Temperature, and to some extent precipitation, in part explained tree allometric variation. The magnitude of allometric variation due to climate, however, had a phylogenetic signal. Specifically, angiosperm allometry was more sensitive to differences in temperature compared to gymnosperms. Most notably, angiosperm height was more negatively influenced by increasing temperature variability, whereas gymnosperm height was negatively influenced by decreasing precipitation and increasing altitude. There was little evidence to suggest that shade tolerance influenced tree allometry except for very shade-intolerant trees which were taller for any given diameter. Tree allometry is plastic rather than fixed and scaling parameters vary around predicted central tendencies. This allometric variation provides insight into life-history strategies, phylogenetic history, and environmental limitations at biogeographical scales.

7 CFR 1214.41 - Nominations and appointments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; MISCELLANEOUS COMMODITIES), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CHRISTMAS TREE PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND INFORMATION ORDER Christmas Tree Promotion, Research, and Information Order Christmas Tree... ballot, electronic mail, in person, or by facsimile. (b) Nominations for the initial Board will be...

7 CFR 1214.41 - Nominations and appointments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; MISCELLANEOUS COMMODITIES), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CHRISTMAS TREE PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND INFORMATION ORDER Christmas Tree Promotion, Research, and Information Order Christmas Tree... ballot, electronic mail, in person, or by facsimile. (b) Nominations for the initial Board will be...

7 CFR 1214.41 - Nominations and appointments.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... AGREEMENTS AND ORDERS; MISCELLANEOUS COMMODITIES), DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CHRISTMAS TREE PROMOTION, RESEARCH, AND INFORMATION ORDER Christmas Tree Promotion, Research, and Information Order Christmas Tree... ballot, electronic mail, in person, or by facsimile. (b) Nominations for the initial Board will be...

Evaluation and prediction of shrub cover in coastal Oregon forests (USA)

Treesearch

Becky K. Kerns; Janet L. Ohmann

2004-01-01

We used data from regional forest inventories and research programs, coupled with mapped climatic and topographic information, to explore relationships and develop multiple linear regression (MLR) and regression tree models for total and deciduous shrub cover in the Oregon coastal province. Results from both types of models indicate that forest structure variables were...

Colorado's forest resources, 2004-2013

Treesearch

Michael T. Thompson; John D. Shaw; Chris Witt; Charles E. Werstak; Michael C. Amacher; Sara A. Goeking; R. Justin DeRose; Todd A. Morgan; Colin B. Sorenson; Steven W. Hayes; Jim Menlove

2017-01-01

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory of Colorado’s forests based on field data collected between 2004 and 2013. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, numbers of trees, biomass, carbon, volume, growth, mortality, and removals. Most sections and tables are organized by forest type or forest-type group, species group,...

Utah's forest resources, 2003-2012

Treesearch

Charles E. Werstak; John D. Shaw; Sara A. Goeking; Christopher Witt; James Menlove; Mike T. Thompson; R. Justin DeRose; Michael C. Amacher; Sarah Jovan; Todd A. Morgan; Colin B. Sorenson; Steven W. Hayes; Chelsea P. McIver

2016-01-01

This report presents a summary of the most recent inventory of Utah’s forests based on field data collected from 2003 through 2012. The report includes descriptive highlights and tables of area, numbers of trees, biomass, volume, growth, mortality, and removals. Most sections and tables are organized by forest type or forest-type group, species group, diameter class,...

Comparison of Past, Present, and Future Volume Estimation Methods for Tennessee

Treesearch

Stanley J. Zarnoch; Alexander Clark; Ray A. Souter

2003-01-01

Forest Inventory and Analysis 1999 survey data for Tennessee were used to compare stem-volume estimates obtained using a previous method, the current method, and newly developed taper models that will be used in the future. Compared to the current method, individual tree volumes were consistently underestimated with the previous method, especially for the hardwoods....

A comparison of several techniques for imputing tree level data

Treesearch

David Gartner

2002-01-01

As Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) changes from periodic surveys to the multipanel annual survey, new analytical methods become available. The current official statistic is the moving average. One alternative is an updated moving average. Several methods of updating plot per acre volume have been discussed previously. However, these methods may not be appropriate...

Growth of Secondary Forest in Puerto Rico Between 1980 and 1985

Treesearch

P.L. Weaver; R.A. Birdsey

1990-01-01

Successive inventories in Puerto Rico provided the first estimates of secondary forest growth on a regional basis. The volume of growing stock trees increased by 32%, and timber volume by nearly 36%, on all classes of forest land between 1980 and 198.5. Timber volume growth rates (in m3ha-1yr-1 )...

Comparisons of modeled height predictions to ocular height estimates

Treesearch

W.A. Bechtold; S.J. Zarnoch; W.G. Burkman

1998-01-01

Equations used by USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis projects to predict individual tree heights on the basis of species and d.b.h. were improved by the addition of mean overstory height. However, ocular estimates of total height by field crews were more accurate than the statistically improved models, especially for hardwood species. Height predictions...

Advancing individual tree biomass prediction: assessment and alternatives to the component ratio method

Treesearch

Aaron Weiskittel; Jereme Frank; David Walker; Phil Radtke; David Macfarlane; James Westfall

2015-01-01

Prediction of forest biomass and carbon is becoming important issues in the United States. However, estimating forest biomass and carbon is difficult and relies on empirically-derived regression equations. Based on recent findings from a national gap analysis and comprehensive assessment of the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (USFS-FIA) component...

Forest statistics for West-Central Tennessee counties

Treesearch

Renewable Resource Evaluation Research Work Unit

1982-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1980 inventory of 11 counties comprising the West Central Unit of Tennessee (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by systematic sampling method involving a forest-non-forest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...

Forest statistics for Southwest-South Alabama counties

Treesearch

Forest Inventory and Analysis Research Work Unit

1983-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1982 inventory of 21 counties comprising the Southeast Unit of Alabama (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method of involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...

Forest statistics for North-Central Alabama counties

Treesearch

Forest Inventory and Analysis Research Work Unit

1983-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1982 inventory of 15 counties comprising the North Central Unit of Alabama (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by systematic sampling method involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...

Forest statistics for West Tennessee counties

Treesearch

No Author Named

1982-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1980 inventory of 18 counties comprising the West Unit of Tennessee (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample locations...

Forest statistics for North Alabama counties

Treesearch

Forest Inventory and Analysis Work Unit

1983-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1982 inventory of 10 counties comprising the North Unit of Alabama (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample locations...

Forest statistics for Central Tennessee counties

Treesearch

Renewable Resources Evaluation Research Work Unit

1981-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1980 inventory of 23 counties comprising the Central Unit of Tennessee (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method involving a forest-non-forest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...

Forest statistics for Southwest Alabama counties

Treesearch

SO Southern Experiment Sta

1983-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1982 inventory of 21 counties comprising the Southeast Unit of Alabama (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method of involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...

Forest statistics for West Central Alabama counties

Treesearch

SO Southern Experiment Sta

1983-01-01

These tables were derived from data obtained during a 1982 inventory of 21 counties comprising the Southeast Unit of Alabama (fig. 1). The data on forest acreage and timber volume were secured by a systematic sampling method of involving a forest-nonforest classification on aerial photographs and on-the-ground measurements of trees at sample locations. The sample...