Taper and Volume Models for Some Terminalia Tree Species

Abstract

The paper evaluated the performance of the current functional tree taper and volume models. The models were applied to some selected economically important natural Terminalia tree species common to central Sudan, namely, Terminalia laxiflora and, Terminalia brownii. 22 two-variable models (Diameter at breast height and total tree height or bole height) and 10 three-variables models (Diameter at ground level, Diameter at breast height and total tree height or bole height) were evaluated. 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). Data were extracted from a natural reserved forest in the Blue Nile state. The models goodness of fit were 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. Taper-17 and Taper-19 were found to be among the best two models for the two species with R2 range of 0.94 – 0.93, but with different rankings for each species. Comparison of the range of data for the tow studied species suggested that representation of various 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), had significant influence on the accuracy of prediction outside the range of the fitted data. This implies that application of the selected models is only useful at local stand level or at best in similar biological and stand structure conditions. For volume models, The results indicated that individual equations act differently in each species as there were great variations in the values of the same parameter of a given model accross the species. Some regression parameters of a given model were found to be significant in some species and insignificant in others. Comparison between the two versions of each group reveals that 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. From the first, the regression parameters of only 5 models (VOL-1, VOL-5, VOL-8, VOL-17, and VOL-20) were found to be significant at 0.05 probability level for all the tow species. The results also reveal that inclusion of variable D0 to the original two variables (DBH, Ht) to the volume equations results in insignificant improvement of the Ra2 values, while the replacement of the original model Ht variable with the Hb results in quite significant improvement of the Ra2 values. However, substantial improvement of the Ra2 values were obtained when both D0 and Hb were added. For this group of models, VOL-23, VOL-25- VOL-29 VOL30- and VOL-31were found to be the best for almost all the tow species. In general, the study concluded that taper and volume models can provide precise and accurate 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 the varying growth and management condition.