A Macroecological Analysis of SERA Derived Forest Heights and Implications for Forest Volume Remote Sensing

Individual trees have been shown to exhibit strong relationships between DBH, height and volume. Often such studies are cited as justification for forest volume or standing biomass estimation through remote sensing. With resolution of common satellite remote sensing systems generally too low to resolve individuals, and a need for larger coverage, these systems rely on descriptive heights, which account for tree collections in forests. For remote sensing and allometric applications, this height is not entirely understood in terms of its location. Here, a forest growth model (SERA) analyzes forest canopy height relationships with forest wood volume. Maximum height, mean, H100, and Lorey's height are examined for variability under plant number density, resource and species. Our findings, shown to be allometrically consistent with empirical measurements for forested communities world-wide, are analyzed for implications to forest remote sensing techniques such as LiDAR and RADAR. Traditional forestry measures of maximum height, and to a lesser extent H100 and Lorey's, exhibit little consistent correlation with forest volume across modeled conditions. The implication is that using forest height to infer volume or biomass from remote sensing requires species and community behavioral information to infer accurate estimates using height alone. SERA predicts mean height to provide the most consistent relationship with volume of the height classifications studied and overall across forest variations. This prediction agrees with empirical data collected from conifer and angiosperm forests with plant densities ranging between 102–106 plants/hectare and heights 6–49 m. Height classifications investigated are potentially linked to radar scattering centers with implications for allometry. These findings may be used to advance forest biomass estimation accuracy through remote sensing. Furthermore, Lorey's height with its specific relationship to remote sensing physics is recommended as a more universal indicator of volume when using remote sensing than achieved using either maximum height or H100

Legno da Energia. Prezzi indici in Austria e Italia

From the 1979 the Agriculture Chamber of Lower Austria (Nieder\uf6sterreich) computes and publishes every three months an index about the energy wood price in Austria. From the 2001 also the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Craft Trade and Agriculture of Bolzano publishes every month the price of different wood fuels. In the present paper the National Austrian index is analyzed and discussed according to its structures. Also wood fuels prices of both the area (Austria and Bolzano province in Italy) are compared

Considerations on uncertainties and inconsistencies in the dendrometric terminology

In the italian forestry literature, the adjective “cormometric” combined with the noun volume or its equivalent, is used with three different meanings which are respectively linked to the stem, to the trunk or large timber. To find the origins and also the reasons for these different meanings of the term, we need to go back in history. The first definition is by Alfonso Di Berenger first director of the Vallombrosa Forest, the first seat of higher Forestry education in Italy between 1869 and 1951. He defined cormometric the volume of the “legname sociale” (industrial timber), or the trunk. Follows the definition of Vittorio Perona that, in the wake of the German concept of Derbholz, considers cormometric volume as including also portions of branches above seven centimeters. Giuseppe Di Tella, Professor of forest mensurations and forest management in Florence between 1916 and 1937 is the author of a large general volume table for fir where the cormometric volume is defined as the “stem including the top”, but also, following the doctrine, as a measure expressing the volume of the part of the stem that can provide wood for building or industry. Subsequently, with the definitions of the Professors Generoso Patrone and Guglielmo Giordano confirming the doctrinal meaning of Di Tella, the sense of the term remains unchanged. In 1986 Hellrigl called cormometric mass, the aboveground woody tree mass limited to trunk and limbs to be determined; however, this definition did not find any application. Alternative definitions by Roberto Del Favero and Orazio La Marca consider cormometric volume including top and cormometric volume excluding top. In the forest literature, instead, there were more changes in 2007, when the Forestry Research Portal published a notation regarding cubing of forest stands, stating “in the cubing of forest stands, woody volume estimated for conifers is, in general, cormometric (i.e., volume of the stem including bark)” which gave rise to the present note. Alongside, and again in connection with the meaning of the term cormometric, certain combinations of terminology reported in two multilingual glossaries of IUFRO are highlighted

Foreste, Carbonio e Assestamento forestale. Alcune meditazioni in tema.

Vengono accostati concetti propri del bilancio del carbonio nel sistema foresta-legno e dell'assestamento forestale. In ottica comprensiva, vengono considerati tre diversi scenari forestali: la foresta vergine, la foresta assestata e la foresta in corso di assestamento. Tra le similitudini, si evidenziano particolarmente quelle tra gli stock di carbonio e di provvigione legnosa, tra i flussi di carbonio ed incremento e ripresa. Tra le differenze pi\uf9 evidenti, spicca la necessit\ue0 di includere, nel bilancio del carbonio, il complesso terreno-necromassa-suolo. Un ruolo decisivo ai fini dell'utilit\ue0 carbonico-atmosferica del sistema foresta-legno \ue8 rivestito inoltre, nel caso di foreste gestite, dallo stock dei prodotti legnosi nell'extrabosco. Si vuole sottolineare con ci\uf2 l'importanza della cultura assestamentale anche in una gestione forestale moderna, attenta a garantire le nuove utilit\ue0 che via via si aggiungono ad ampliare la dimensione funzionale del bosco

Osservazioni su alcune incertezze e incongruenze nella terminologia dendrometrica

Considerations on uncertainties and inconsistencies in the dendrometric terminology. In the italian forestry literature, the adjective \u201ccormometric\u201d combined with the noun volume or its equivalent, is used with three different meanings which are respectively linked to the stem, to the trunk or large timber. To find the origins and also the reasons for these different meanings of the term, we need to go back in history. The first definition is by Alfonso Di Berenger first director of the Vallombrosa Forest, the first seat of higher Forestry education in Italy between 1869 and 1951. He defined cormometric the volume of the \u201clegname sociale\u201d (industrial timber), or the trunk. Follows the definition of Vittorio Perona that, in the wake of the German concept of Derbholz, considers cormometric volume as including also portions of branches above seven centimeters. Giuseppe Di Tella, Professor of forest mensurations and forest management in Florence between 1916 and 1937 is the author of a large general volume table for fir where the cormometric volume is defined as the \u201cstem including the top\u201d, but also, following the doctrine, as a measure expressing the volume of the part of the stem that can provide wood for building or industry. Subsequently, with the definitions of the Professors Generoso Patrone and Guglielmo Giordano confirming the doctrinal meaning of Di Tella, the sense of the term remains unchanged. In 1986 Hellrigl called cormometric mass, the aboveground woody tree mass limi - ted to trunk and limbs to be determined; however, this definition did not find any application. Alternative definitions by Roberto Del Favero and Orazio La Marca consider cormometric volume including top and cormometric volume excluding top. In the forest literature, instead, there were more changes in 2007, when the Forestry Research Portal published a notation regarding cubing of forest stands, stating \u201cin the cubing of forest stands, woody volume estimated for conifers is, in general, cormometric (i.e., volume of the stem including bark)\u201d which gave rise to the present note. Alongside, and again in connection with the meaning of the term cormometric, certain combinations of terminology reported in two multilingual glossaries of IUFRO are highlighted