Simultaneous unbiased estimates of multiple downed wood attributes in perpendicular distance sampling

Abstract

Perpendicular distance sampling (PDS) is a fast probability-proportional-to-size method for inventory of downed wood. However, previous development of PDS had limited the method to estimating only one variable (such as volume per hectare, or surface area per hectare) at a time. Here, we develop a general design-unbiased estimator for PDS. We then show how that estimator can be used to develop simple measurement protocols that allow simultaneous, unbiased estimation of multiple downed wood variables, including logs per hectare, length of logs per hectare, surface area or area coverage per hectare, and volume per hectare.