Developing Weibull-based diameter distributions for the major coniferous species in Heilongjiang Province, China

Abstract

Diameter distribution models play an important role in forest inventories, growth prediction, and management. The Weibull probability density function is widely used in forestry. Although a number of methods have been proposed to predict or recover the Weibull distribution, their applicability and predictive performance for the major tree species of China remain to be determined. Trees in sample plots of three even-aged coniferous species (Larix olgensis, Pinus sylvestris and Pinus koraiensis) were measured both in un-thinned and thinned stands to develop parameter prediction models for the Weibull probability density function. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and maximum likelihood regression (MLER), as well as cumulative distribution function regression (CDFR) were used, and their performance compared. The results show that MLER and CDFR were better than OLS in predicting diameter distributions of tree plantations. CDFR produced the best results in terms of fitting statistics. Based on the error statistics calculated for different age groups, CDFR was considered the most suitable method for developing prediction models for Weibull parameters in coniferous plantations.