Evaluation and Standard Description of Growth Models

Abstract

Several European states introduced unevenaged forest management methods, such as “structural thinning” and “target diameter harvesting”, and promoted the establishment and tending of mixed stands. During the past two decades this development has been supported by (and at the same time enhanced) the development of forest growth simulators that rely less and less on conventional yield tables for pure stands. With the objective of overcoming the limited applicability of yield tables, a multitude of new model approaches and growth simulators of confusing variety has being created. In contrast to yield tables, they lack, to date, any form of standardisation that could serve as a guide for users and developers. Efforts to develop such guidelines have been undertaken by the Division of Forest Yield Science in the German Union of Forest Research Organisations.