Forest mensuration – the science of measurement applied to forest vegetation and forest products – holds value for basic ecology as well as sustainable forest management.  As demands on the world’s forests have grown, scientists and professionals are increasingly called on to quantify forest composition, structure, and the goods and services forests provide.  Grounded in geometry, sampling theory, and ecology as well as practical field experience, forest mensuration offers opportunities for creative problem solving and critical thinking. 

This fifth edition of the classic volume, Forest Mensuration, includes coverage of traditional and emerging topics, with attention to SI and Imperial units throughout. The book has been reorganised from the fourth edition to better integrate non-timber and ecological aspects of forest mensuration at the tree, stand, forest, and landscape scales throughout.  The new edition includes new chapters that specifically address the integration of remotely sensed data in the forest inventory process, and inventory methods for dead and downed wood. One unifying theme, not only for traditional forestry but for the non-timber inventory and for remote sensing, is the use of covariates to make sampling more efficient and spatially explicit.  This is introduced in the introductory chapter on statistics and the chapter on sampling designs has been restructured to highlight this approach and lay the foundation for further learning. New examples will be developed throughout the textbook with an emphasis on current issues and international practice.

Students in applied forestry programs will find ample coverage of forest products and timber inventory, while expanded material on biodiversity, biomass and carbon inventory, downed dead wood, and the growing role of remote sensing in forest assessment will be valuable to a broader audience in applied ecology.

John A. Kershaw, Jr. Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick, Canada.

Mark J. Ducey, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, USA.

Thomas W. Beers, Emeritus Professor of Forestry, Purdue University, USA.

Bertram Husch, former Forestry Consultant at INFORA Estudios Ltda. in Santiago, Chile, and former Forest Mensurationist, FAO.

Preface xiv

1 Introduction 1

1.1. Role of Forest Mensuration in Forest Management, 2

1.2. Forest Mensuration as a Tool for Monitoring Forests, 3

1.3. Relevance of Forest Mensuration for Ecology and Nontimber Resources, 4

1.4. Design and Planning of Inventories, 5

2 Principles of Measurement 13

2.1. Scales of Measurement, 14

2.2. Units of Measurement, 16

2.3. Systems of Measurement, 16

2.4. Variables, 21

2.5. Precision, Accuracy, and Bias, 21

2.6. Significant Digits and Rounding Off, 23

2.7. Data Summary and Presentation, 27

2.8. Fundamental Measurements, 30

3 Basic Statistical Concepts 34

3.1. Descriptive Statistics, 34

3.2. Frequency Distributions, 38

3.3. Measures of Central Tendency, 40

3.4. Measures of Dispersion, 42

3.5. Sampling Error, 45

3.6. Sample Size Determination, 50

3.7. Influence of Scalar Transformations and the Estimation of Totals, 52

3.8. Correlation and Regression Estimation, 53

3.9. Use of Covariates to Improve Estimation, 63

4 Land Area Determination in Forest Mensuration 67

4.1. Land Distance and Area Units, 68

4.2. Measuring Distances, 68

4.3. Measuring Area in the Field, 73

4.4. Measuring Area Using Maps and Photos, 73

4.5. Determination of Photo Scale, 76

4.6. Determination of Direction Using a Compass, 80

4.7. The U.S. Public Land Surveys, 82

4.8. Global Positioning Systems, 86

4.9. Geographic Information Systems, 89

5 Individual Tree Parameters 92

5.1. Age, 92

5.2. Tree Diameters and Cross-Sectional Areas, 95

5.3. Height, 108

5.4. Form, 121

5.5. Crown Parameters, 125

5.6. Regression and Allometric Approaches, 130

6 Determination of Tree Volume, Weight, and Biomass 135

6.1. Measurement of Individual Trees, 137

6.2. Allometric Equations for Volume, Weight, and Biomass, 156

6.3. Tabular Estimation, 160

6.4. Volume and Biomass Distribution in Trees, 167

6.5. Other Methods of Estimating Tree Content, 173

6.6. Applications to Seedlings and Understory Vegetation, 179

6.7. Applications to Snags and Down Woody Material, 179

7 Measurement of Primary Forest Products 184

7.1. Units of Measurement of Forest Products, 184

7.2. Log Rules, 186

7.3. Board Foot Log Rules, 186

7.4. Log Scaling, 195

7.5. Scaling Stacked Volume, 199

7.6. Volume Unit Conversion, 200

7.7. Scaling By Weight, 204

8 Stand Parameters 210

8.1. Age, 211

8.2. Species Composition, 212

8.3. Diameter, 219

8.4. Height, 228

8.5. Volume, Weight, and Biomass, 232

8.6. Crown and Canopy Measurements, 236

8.7. Understory and Regeneration, 239

8.8. Site Quality, 250

8.9. Density and Stocking, 259

9 Sampling Units for Estimating Parameters 273

9.1. The Factor Concept, 274

9.2. Fixed-Area Plots, 276

9.3. Sampling Trees with Variable Probability, 287

9.4. Other Examples of Variable Probability Sampling, 298

9.5. Distance-Based Sampling Units, 299

9.6. Selecting Appropriate Sampling Units, 303

10 Sampling Designs in Forest Inventories 305

10.1. Basic Considerations, 305

10.2. Simple Random Sampling (SRS), 311

10.3. Systematic Sampling (SYS), 318

10.4. Selective or Opportunistic Sampling, 326

10.5. Stratified Sampling (STS), 327

10.6. Cluster Sampling, 334

10.7. Multistage Sampling, 338

10.8. Sampling with Covariates, 343

10.9. List Sampling, 353

10.10. 3P Sampling, 357

11 Inventory of Standing Trees Using Sampling with Varying Probability 361

11.1. Horizontal Point Sampling (HPS), 362

11.2. Subsampling in HPS, 377

11.3. Other Variable Probability Sampling Techniques, 386

12 Inventory of Downed Dead Material Using Sampling with Varying Probability 393

12.1. Fixed-Area Plots, 394

12.2. Line Intersect Sampling, 398

12.3. Angle Gauge Methods, 406

12.4. Perpendicular Distance Sampling (PDS), 414

12.5. Other Methods, 425

12.6. Design Considerations and Selection of Methods, 427

13 Integrating Remote Sensing in Forest Inventory 429

13.1. Types of Remotely Sensed Data, 429

13.2. Remote Sensing for Stratification, 442

13.3. Individual Tree Measurements, 446

13.4. Remote Sensing for Covariates, 449

14 Measurement of Tree and Stand Growth 455

14.1. Individual Tree Growth, 456

14.2. Direct Measurement of Tree Growth, 460

14.3. Reconstructing Tree Growth, 465

14.4. Stand and Forest Growth, 474

14.5. Measurement of Stand and Forest Growth and Yield, 479

14.6. Considerations for the Design and Maintenance of Permanent Sample Plot Systems, 494

14.7. Growth and Yield Models, 503

Appendix 519

References 550

Index 592