Biomass and taper for trees in thinned and unthinned longleaf pine plantations
January 23, 2021
| Longleafpine (Pinus palustrisMil1.) trees growing in thinnedplantation studies in Louisiana and Texas and unthinned stands from the Louisiana sites were sampledfor establishing taper, volume, and specific gravity. Stem analysis data were collected on 147stems ranging in agefrom 30 to 50 yr. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were employed to determine coefJicients and to detect differences among treatments, for tree taper and specific gravity. Taper and volume equation coefficients and statistics at specified ages were developedfor intermediate plantation ages by examining and aging internal growth ringsfrom the stem sections. Biomass was computed by combining the taper and specific gravity equations. Seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) was used to simultaneouslyfit the system offour equations composed of specific gravity, taper, volume, and biomass, because of the correlated error structure of these equations. Biomass equations, however, could not be developedfor the intermediate ages because specific gravity could not be determined or related to earlier tree ages. |