Abstract
ABSTRACT Height-diameter relationships are used in order to make forest inventories less expensive and to assess growth and yield. This study aimed to develop height-diameter models for individual trees of Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze for different locations and growth conditions in Southern Brazil. Our data include locations of at least one third of this species natural geographical distribution. We used Michailoff’s model, and compared height-diameter tendency through analytical methods. The model showed good overall precision and accuracy. Trees growing in forest conditions had a higher asymptotic height, and reached it at smaller diameters than open-grown trees. Different regions had contrasting height-diameter tendency indicating site potential, especially for natural forests. Individual tree asymptotic height was correlated with site altitude and mean annual precipitation. This study represents a source of parameters for height-diameter relationships in a large geographical span, for a species with high cultural and timber value in Southern Brazil.
Highlights
Individual tree height is one of the most important variables to be obtained in a forest inventory
Social and ecological importance of A. angustifolia it is surprising that the developed height-diameter relationships developed for this species are limited to single stands. To overcome this lack of knowledge, this study aimed to develop a height-diameter model for A. angustifolia for different sites and habitats, and to test whether these sites could be grouped in the ecoregions regarding the behavior of this species
As the asymptotically maximum estimated height varied approximated from 20 to 26 m, the inflexion point measured by t.he β coefficient seems to be the most striking difference among locations and, especially, conditions
Summary
Individual tree height is one of the most important variables to be obtained in a forest inventory. It has several ecological implications and is related to succession and dynamics (CLARK; CLARK, 2001) of natural forests. Individual tree height affects management decisions, being essential to determine individual tree volume (JAYARAMAN; LAPPI, 2001) and, stand volume (HUANG et al 2000). It plays a major role in density management diagrams (CASTAÑOSANTAMARÍA et al, 2013), linking mean basal area and total volume. When combined with the advent of digital elevation models, this correlation allow to obtain stand height, and to estimate above-ground carbon stocks (SIMARD et al, 2006) in a global scale
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