Treesearch

The diameter growth model used in STEMS, the Stand and Tree Evaluation and Modeling System, was originally calibrated using data from permanent growth plots in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Because the model has been applied in predicting growth using Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data, it was appropriate to refit the model to FIA data. The model was calibrated for four species - quaking aspen, balsam fir, paper birch, and red pine using FIA data from the Aspen-Birch and Northern Pine Units of northeastern Minnesota. To compare the new and original calibrations of the model, it...

Ground-based photo monitoring is repeat photography using ground-based cameras to document change in vegetation or soil. Assume those installing the photo location will not be the ones re-photographing it. This requires a protocol that includes: (1) a map to locate the monitoring area, (2) another map diagramming the photographic layout, (3) type and make of film such as Kodak Elite-2®, ASA 200, (4) specific instructions for doing the photography, (5) instructions for when to re-photograph. Use a meter board to identity the topic of interest, to orient current and repeat photographs by...

Data fusion of Landsat TM images and Indian Remote Sensing satellite panchromatic image (IRS-1C PAN) was studied and compared to the use of TM or IRS image only. The aim was to combine the high spatial resolution of IRS-1C PAN to the high spectral resolution of Landsat TM images using a data fusion algorithm. The ground truth of the study was based on a sample of 1,020 relascope plots. The results indicated that compared to use of TM or IRS image only, the data fusion increased the classification accuracy of four tree species classes, three age classes, and their 12 combined stand classes....

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 Pine Inventory Units. On the validation database, the AFIS model showed increased precision over the recalibrated STEMS model by 5 percent for diameter predictions and 8 percent for stand basal area predictions. The average...

Concern over potential global change has led to increased interest in the use of mechanistic models for predicting forest growth. The rationale for this interest is that empirical models may be of limited usefulness if environmental conditions change. Intuitively, we expect that mechanistic models, grounded as far as possible in an understanding of the biology of tree growth, may be more useful in an altered environment. Unfortunately, such models often produce only point estimates, with no associated credible or confidence intervals. The Bayesian synthesis (BSyn) method provides a...

Mangrove forests are one of the primary features of coastal ecosystems throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Mangroves are very sensitive and fragile resources, and the pressures of increasing population, food production, and industrial and urban development have caused a significant proportion of the world's mangroves to be destroyed. Reliable and timely information is required to manage the remaining mangrove resources. This paper describes a research project to compare the ability of three different radar satellite imaging systems and three different optical...

The USDA Forest Service has purchased the North American Landscape Characterization (NALC) Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) triplicates (70's, 80's, and 90's) for every national forest in the United States. To encourage analysis and use of these data for forest planning, a change-detection training course was developed. The course covers basic methods and options for developing change detection maps including visual, post-classification comparison, image algebra, principal components analysis, and unsupervised techniques. The broad spatial and spectral resolutions of the MSS data...

Data for Pinus radiata D. Don grown in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) are used to show that annual indices of growth potential can be successfully incorporated into Schumacher projection models of stand basal area growth. Significant reductions in the error mean squares of the models can be obtained by including an annual growth index derived from estimates of photosynthesis simulated with a detailed process-based model: BIOMASS. In the ACT, it was sufficient to estimate the growth index at a single location within the forest estate.

As part of the Forest Resources Assessment 1990, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations visually interpreted a stratified random sample of 117 Landsat scenes to estimate global status and change in tropical forest area. Images from 1980 and 1990 were interpreted by a group of widely experienced technical people in many different tropical countries.

LANDIS is a spatially explicit model that uses mapped landscape conditions as a starting point and projects the patterns in forest vegetation that will result from alternative harvest practices, alternative fire regimes, and wind events. LANDIS was originally developed for Lake States forests, but it is capable of handling the input, output, bookkeeping, and mapping that occur during landscape simulations for virtually any forest region. We recently calibrated LANDIS for the forest conditions in the Missouri Ozarks, and we based that calibration on a combination of traditional forest...