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Forests
Special Issues
Growth Models for Forest Stands and Trees
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Growth Models for Forest Stands and Trees

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Forest Ecology and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2021) | Viewed by 2553

Special Issue Editor

Prof. John Paul McTague

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Interests: forest biometrics growth, and yield modeling; sampling; applications of operations research in harvest scheduling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will present recent developments in the theory of stand-level and tree-level growth and yield and their linkage. Authors are encouraged to present new differential growth equations and demonstrate their consistency with biological rules of self-thinning and/or other Bakuzis-type relationships of stand properties. As considerable resources are invested in different forms of intensive management, such as competing vegetation control, fertilization, and genetic improvement, reliable estimates of rotation yield are required, albeit frequently without the benefit of long-term permanent plots. Thus, yield estimates that attenuate risk, even when based on scant information, are of great interest. The scope of this Special Issue does not encompass mechanistic models; however, innovative growth and yield functions that incorporate climatic and edaphic variable are encouraged. Tree-level models may be distance-independent or include competition indices; however, consistency with the stand-level estimates is imperative. While a system of stand-level models is frequently constructed for the attributes of mean top height, density, and basal area, researchers may elect to model total size, and then use tools to disaggregate the total to stand properties. The dynamics of stand and tree disaggregation or allocation to individual components, over the rotation length, is a topic of keen interest to many researchers.

This Special Issue is focused on growth and yield models with consistent estimates at the stand and tree-level.  I welcome the submission of original research reports and review papers.

Prof. John Paul McTague
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • growth and yield models
  • theory of growth
  • differential equations
  • response functions for intensive management
  • attenuation of risk
  • tree-level competition and self-thinning
  • incorporation of climatic and edaphic variables

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 1650 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Top Height Growth Models for Eight Native Tree Species in a Cool-Temperate Region in Northeast China
by Sandra-Maria Hipler, Heinrich Spiecker and Shuirong Wu
Forests 2021, 12(8), 965; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12080965 - 21 Jul 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2100
Abstract
In this study, we developed dynamic top height growth models for the eight important Chinese tree species Larix gmelinii var. principis-rupprechtii, Pinus tabuliformis Carr., Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica Litv., Picea asperata Mast., Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb, Betula platyphylla Suk., Betula dahurica [...] Read more.
In this study, we developed dynamic top height growth models for the eight important Chinese tree species Larix gmelinii var. principis-rupprechtii, Pinus tabuliformis Carr., Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica Litv., Picea asperata Mast., Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb, Betula platyphylla Suk., Betula dahurica Pall. and Populus davidiana Dode based on age-height relationships. For this purpose, commonly growth data from long-term observations of permanent experimental plots are used, which ideally cover all development stages from stand establishment to final harvest. As such data were not available in the research area of Hebei Province in Northeast China, we used stem analysis data as well as tree height and annual shoot length measurements. The dataset consisted of 72 stands, 233 dominant trees and 10,195 observations of stem discs and annual shoot length measurements. Five dynamic base-age invariant top height growth models were derived from four base models with the generalized algebraic difference approach and fitted to our age-height data using nested regression techniques. According to biological plausibility and model accuracy the Chapman–Richards model showed the best performance for Picea asperata. This selected model accounted for 99% of the total variance in age-height relationship with average absolute bias of 0.2322 m, root mean square error of 0.3337 m and Radj2 of 0.9979, respectively. The distribution of the residuals was scattered around 0 and without visible trends, indicating that the fitness of the models was good. All developed models are able to generate top height growth curves representing the analyzed height growth data and can be utilized for predicting height growth on the base of current height and age of dominant trees. Additionally, they are the base for calculating the development of other relevant stand attributes such as basal area and volume growth. The determination of potential site productivity by the use of top height growth curves is a practical and convenient method for a simplified presentation of complex growth processes in stands and helps to create growth models, which facilitate implementing sustainable forest management practices in Mulan Forest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth Models for Forest Stands and Trees)
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