Assessing site form as an indicator of site quality in even-aged Pinus radiata D. Don stands in north-western Spain

Abstract

AbstractKey messageSite form and site index have shown similar precision for estimating site quality in even-agedPinus radiataD. Don stands in north-western Spain. Additionally, SF presents the advantage that it does not require stand age information and can therefore be used in a wider set of situations in the forestry practice.ContextEstimation of site quality is essential for characterizing, monitoring and predicting forest resources. Site index (i.e. the dominant height of the stand at a reference age) is ordinarily used to estimate site quality; however, this index is only useful for even-aged stands of known age. By contrast, SF is age-independent as it uses the dominant height of the stand at a reference dominant diameter.AimsThe aim of this study was to compare the performance of SF and SI for site quality estimation in even-agedP. radiatastands.MethodsDynamic equations derived with the Generalized Algebraic Difference Approach (GADA) from the Hossfeld IV base model were fitted to predict site quality with both SI and SF. SF predictions were compared with SI regarding variability within the same plot and consistency in site quality predictions, using the observed maximum mean annual volume increment (MAI) as a direct measure of site quality.ResultsBoth approaches showed good performance in model fitting and provided similar goodness-of-fit statistics and variability in the predictions. However, SI performed slightly stronger when related to MAI.ConclusionSF performed adequately in estimating site quality for even-agedP. radiatastands, with results comparable to those obtained using traditional SI.