Evaluation of Compatible Taper and Volume Models for Combretum hartmannianum and Lonchocarpus laxiflorus Tree Species.

Abstract

This paper developed and evaluated the performance of the current functional tree taper and volume models. The models were applied to some selected economically important natural tree species common to central Sudan, namely, Combretum hartmannianum and, Lonchocarpus Laxiflorus. The tree variables measured were the diameter at breast height (DBH, cm), diameter at the base of the tree (d0, cm), upper stem diameters (di), total tree height (H), and height to the base of the crown (Hb). In total, 19 taper and 32 volume models were tested and evaluated (22 models were two-variable models (Diameter at breast height and total tree height or bole height) and 10 were three-variable models (Diameter at ground level, Diameter at breast height and total tree height or bole height). The model goodness of fit was evaluated in terms of adjusted coefficient of determination (Ra2), standard error (SE), mean absolute residual (MAR), bias (BI) Akaike’s information criterion (AIC), homogeneity of the residuals and significance of the regression parameters. As far as taper models is concerned, Models, some of the models were found to yield satisfactory results for the tow selected species with R2 range of 0.94 – 0.96. For the within species variation of models on the basis of the AIC values, the ranking of the models (smaller AIC first) were in consistant with the rankings due to SE and Ra2 values although AIC penalizes models in proportion to the number regression parameters. In general the results of the study indicated that higher residuals valuse are in most of the cases associated with the lower parts of the bole, the butress portion of the stem. This suggests that care should be taken during the application of such models for hardwood species, especially in open woodlands where butress is a common characteristic.The results for volume models revealed differences in the behaviour of different models for each species as the degree of significance of the regression parameters varies between tree species. However, the replacement of the total tree height by the bole height (merchantable height) improves both the level of parameter significance and the coefficient of determination. The results also reveal that inclusion of diameter at grown level to the original two variables (DBH, Ht) and the replacement of the original model total height with the bale height results in quite significant improvement of the Ra2 values. In general, the study concluded that taper and volume models can provide precise and accurate estimation of tree growth variables for the studied species with reasonable cost and time, but care should be taken when dealing with same model for the same species across varying growth and management condition, or when dealing with different species. country.