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Abstract
The sample unit and its implications for the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Inventory and Analysis program are discussed in light of a generalized three-dimensional concept of continuous forest inventories. The concept views the sampled population as a spatial-temporal cube and the sample as a finite partitioning of the cube. The sample serves to cut the volume of the cube into a finite number of pieces like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Each puzzle piece is defined by the spatial-temporal selection volumes of observation sets on the individual trees existing in the forest during the period of interest. The concept is developed as a temporal extension of the alternative view of forest sampling offered in Roesch et al. (1993).
Parent Publication
Citation
Roesch, Francis A. 2009. Dimensionality and the sample unit. In: McRoberts, Ronald E.; Reams, Gregory A.; Van Deusen, Paul C.; McWilliams, William H., eds. Proceedings of the eighth annual forest inventory and analysis symposium; 2006 October 16-19; Monterey, CA. Gen. Tech. Report WO-79. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 109-113.
