Compatible stem taper, volume, and weight equations for young longleaf pine plantations in Southwest Georgia.

摘要

Outside and inside bark diameter measurements were recorded from tree discs obtained at 0-, 0.5-, 2.0-, 4.5-, 6.0-, 16.6-, and 4-ft-height intervals above 6 ft to a 2-inch diameter outside bark top diameter on 42 longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) trees selected from intensively managed longleaf pine plantations in Dougherty and Worth Counties in southwest Georgia, USA. Trees were sampled from unthinned, cutover stands in their 11th and 14th growing season, which are currently part of an existing growth and yield study. Sample trees ranged from 2 to 7 inches in diameter and from 18 to 40 ft in total height. Parameters for a segmented polynomial taper and compatible cubic foot volume and weight equation were simultaneously estimated using a seemingly unrelated non-linear fitting procedure to volumes based on a generalized Newton formula and an overlapping bolt methodology. Average error was approximately 0.25 inch, 0.04 ft3, and 2.5 lb for taper, volume, and weight estimation, respectively.