Assessing the Potential Stem Growth and Quality of Yellow Birch Prior to Restoration: A Case Study in Eastern Canada
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Experimental Section
2.1. Field Sampling
Area | Number of TSPs | Number of trees (cm) | DBH (cm) | H (m) | d2h (m3) | Age (years) | BAI5Y (cm2/5 years) | SLC4F (m) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reference | 22 | 76 | 3.7–67.5 | 6.1–24.6 | 0.01–8.06 | 14–231 | 43.7 (32.2) | 9.7 (4) |
Restoration | 19 | 66 | 2.5–53.2 | 2.73–20 | 0–4.78 | 16–229 | 34.7 (26.8) | 8.3 (3.6) |
2.2. Stem Growth and Quality Assessments
2.3. Independent Variables
Area | Degree Days (°C/year) | Growing Season (days) | Temp. Daily Min (°C) | Temp. Daily Mean (°C) | Temp. Daily Max (°C) | Precipitations (mm) | Altitude (m) | CI1 | CI2 | Site Index | Main Competitor species | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reference | 2154 (145) | 134 ** (9) | −4.8 ** (0.8) | 1.3 ** (0.7) | 7.4 ** (0.6) | 1317 ** (62) | 492 ** (118) | 9.6 ns (10.5) | 3.5 ns (5.6) | 11.6 * (0.8) | CYB: | 33 |
M: | 6 | |||||||||||
O: | 37 | |||||||||||
Restoration | 2262 (69) | 151 ** (8) | −3.5 ** (0.8) | 1.8 ** (0.5) | 7.1 ** (0.3) | 1034 ** (26) | 288 ** (86) | 9.9 ns (13) | 4 ns (6) | 11.4 * (0.7) | CYB: | 32 |
M: | 9 | |||||||||||
O: | 25 |
2.4. Model Development
3. Results
3.1. Basal Area Increments
Step | a0 | b0 | b1 | c0 | c1 | σplot (α0j) | σplot (β0j) | σplot (γ0j) | εij | AIC | RMSE | MAE | MAE% | EF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
cm2/5 years | cm2/5 years | % | ||||||||||||
1 | 64.6 ** (6.8) | 0.5 ** (0.1) | 0.8 ** (0.05) | 21.4 | 1307.6 | 23.7 | 17.7 | 44.8 | 0.38 | |||||
2 | 54.0 ** (5.8) | 0.4 ** (0.1) | 0.9 ** (0.05) | 16 | 5.0 × 10−5 | 2.9 × 10−5 | 21.3 | 1284.6 | 18.4 | 14.0 | 35.3 | 0.63 | ||
3 | 55.2 ** (5.7) | 0.7 ** (0.1) | 0.7 ** (2.2−4) | 0.7 ** (0.08) | 0.9 ** (0.08) | 16.9 | 4.0 × 10−5 | 3.0 × 10−6 | 19.9 | 1274.4 | 16.8 | 13.1 | 33.1 | 0.69 |
4 | 55.1 ** (5.7) | 0.7 ** (0.7) | 0.7 ** (2.2−4) | 0.7 ** (0.08) | 0.9 ** (0.09) | 16.9 | 19.9 | 1264.4 | 16.8 | 13.1 | 33.2 | 0.69 |
3.2. Stem Quality
Step | a0 | a1 | b0 | c0 | σplot (α0j) | σplot (β0j) | σplot (γ0j) | εij | AIC | RMSE | MAE | MAE% | EF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
m | m | % | |||||||||||
1 | 5.5 ** (0.4) | 9.3 ** (0.7) | −0.6 ** (0.1) | 2.4 | 657.1 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 21.0 | 62.0 | ||||
2 | 5.3 ** (0.2) | 8.9 ** (0.7) | −0.5 ** (0.07) | 3.3 × 10−4 | 1.7 | 1.0 × 10−6 | 2.4 | 642.7 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 18.4 | 70.9 | |
3 | 9.6 ** (1.4) | −5120.9 ** (1579.0) | 8.9 ** (0.7) | −0.4 ** (0.07) | 1.6 × 10−4 | 1.5 | 2.0 × 10−6 | 2.3 | 634.9 | 2.1 | 1.6 | 18.0 | 71.3 |
4 | 9.6 ** (1.4) | −5118.6 ** (1579.1) | 8.9 ** (0.7) | −0.4 ** (0.07) | 1.5 | 2.3 | 630.9 | 2.1 | 1.6 | 18.0 | 71.3 |
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Gagné, L.-V.; Genet, A.; Weiskittel, A.; Achim, A. Assessing the Potential Stem Growth and Quality of Yellow Birch Prior to Restoration: A Case Study in Eastern Canada. Forests 2013, 4, 766-785. https://doi.org/10.3390/f4040766
Gagné L-V, Genet A, Weiskittel A, Achim A. Assessing the Potential Stem Growth and Quality of Yellow Birch Prior to Restoration: A Case Study in Eastern Canada. Forests. 2013; 4(4):766-785. https://doi.org/10.3390/f4040766
Chicago/Turabian StyleGagné, Louis-Vincent, Astrid Genet, Aaron Weiskittel, and Alexis Achim. 2013. "Assessing the Potential Stem Growth and Quality of Yellow Birch Prior to Restoration: A Case Study in Eastern Canada" Forests 4, no. 4: 766-785. https://doi.org/10.3390/f4040766