Prospect Hill Forest Monitoring

Tree growth data (Forest_DBH_Data_2014.xls).
Species and DBH (diameter at breast height - 1.37 m) from the three forest inventory plots on Prospect Hill

Estimating the whole tree biomass (weight; including branches, leaves, and bark) based on parameters that are easily measured in the field (DBH) is becoming a fundamental task in forestry. Regression equations are used to estimate tree biomass. These equations are typically developed in the following way: samples of major tree species are chosen for study, selected dimensions of each tree are recorded, the tree is felled and weighted either a whole or in pieces, and sub-samples are oven-dried and weighted again to determine tree moisture content. Then tree wet (green) weights are converted to dry weights by using moisture content values. Because biomass is related to tree dimension, a regression analysis is used to estimate the actual tree biomass from DBH measurements.

Example: wt=1.3499 DBH*2.45
wt = weight (kg), DBH (in) for Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis).