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Evaluating Site Quality

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Book cover Modeling Forest Trees and Stands

Abstract

Assessment of site quality is essential for identifying the productive potential of land and for providing a frame of reference for silvicultural diagnosis and prescription. Site index (average height of the dominant portion of the stand at an arbitrarily chosen age) is the most commonly used indicator of site quality for even-aged, single-species forest stands. This chapter provides a detailed treatment of various methods for computing dominant height, data sources for developing site index curves (temporary plots, permanent plots, tree stem analysis), and commonly-applied alternative methods for empirically fitting site index equations. Methods described for fitting site index functions include the guide curve approach, use of age and height at index age as predictors, segmented models, differential equations approach, difference equations (with extensive attention given to the algebraic difference and generalized algebraic difference approaches), and use of mixed-effects models. The chapter concludes with a discussion of including concomitant information in height-age models and considering the effects of stand density on dominant height development.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The so-called “coefficient of variation method” (e.g. Brickell 1968) can be applied to circumvent the proportionality assumption, but it is difficult to develop satisfactory site index curves using this technique and it is seldom applied in practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry, Virginia Tech, Cheatham Hall 319, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Harold E. Burkhart

  2. Instituto Superior de Agronomia DRAT, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisboa, Portugal

    Margarida Tomé

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Burkhart, H.E., Tomé, M. (2012). Evaluating Site Quality. In: Modeling Forest Trees and Stands. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3170-9_7

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