Abstract
Assessing the crown class (dominant, codominant, intermediate, suppressed) of a tree is a subjective procedure. Most definitions of crown class are based on the relative height of a tree and (or) the amount of light that is incident on the tree crown. With this research, we devised a classification scheme, based on easily measured tree variables, to assign a crown class to trees. Our data consisted of tree measurements, including crown class, from four stem-mapped 0.05-ha sample plots with buffers. The light model tRAYci was used to assess the light incident on each tree crown. These data gave us field-based and light-based assessments of crown class. The classification and regression tree technique with diameter at breast height (DBH), height, relative DBH, relative height, height to the crown base, and crown depth as variables was used to classify the trees. Accuracy rates of 91% and 82% were achieved for the field-based and light-based assessments of crown class, respectively.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have