Forest Mensuration-

Why Forest Mensuration:-

1. Measurement and quantification of forest resources.

2. Analysis and presentation of forest structure information.

Role of Forest mensuration in Forest management:-

1. If you can not measure it, you can not manage it.

2. Good Management decisions require good data.

There are also many reasons that forest are measured-

• Measure the quantity (and quality) of the tree boles to determine how
much saw log or pulpwood could be harvested under specific
circumstances.

• Measure the amount of woody biomass to determine how much

biomass could be harvested.

• Measure the amount of leaf area to determine how much atmospheric

pollution can be intercepted and removed by living trees.

• Measure the variability of tree species, sizes and ages to determine the
biodiversity and stability of the forest.

• Measure the amount of damage caused by fire, insect or disease to

assist in determining if remedial treatment is necessary.

Definitions-

1. Forest mensuration deals with the study of the volume of logs, trees
and stands and with the increment and yield. By-Henry S. Graves

2. The art and science of measuring, sampling and analyzing forest

resources to solve forest problems.

3. On the other hand Michael S Philip (1983) has defined mensuration as

measurement of length, mass and time.
 So, the forest mensuration is the branch of forestry which deals with
the determination of dimensions (e.g. diameter, height, volume etc),
form, volume, age and increment of single trees, stands or whole
woods, either standing or after felling.

It includes measurements of felled and standing tree, sawn wood and

round logs and various other products referred to as minor forest
products such as fuel, charcoal, bark, fruits etc. forest mensuration
,therefore concerns with linear, area, volume and weight
measurements,

Objective of Forest mensuration-

1. Basis for sale-

2. Basis for management-

3. Measurement for research-

4. Measurement for planning-

It is the tool that provides facts about the forest crops, or individual trees, or
parcels of felled timber to sellers, buyers, planners, managers or
researchers. Tree may be described quantitatively by many parameters, the
commonest of which are:

 age

 Diameter

 Cross Sectional Area

 Length or height

 Crown width
 Wood density

 Form or Shape

 Taper or the rate of Change of diameter with length

 Volume over of under bark

1.1 Definition of terms

The following terms will recur in tree mensuration and must be defined

Parameter, estimates, errors, measurements, accuracy, population,

sample

Def. Parameter: is a characteristic of a population that usually can be

expressed in a numerical form

Example: Tree height, volume, Forest area

Measurement: as a reading or value for a particular parameter obtained

using an instrument whose scale readings are a function of the value of the
parameter recorded.

Example: - the length of a piece of wood

- The height of tree

Estimate: is a value of a parameter obtained indirectly often with the help

of measurements. An estimate is based either on the assumption that the
part or parts measured represent the whole, or that the measurements
combined with same assumption of a model describing their relationship.

Example: average diameter or volume of a stand

Errors-The type of errors that exists during the measurement of different

tree or stand parameters may be either:

a) human and erratic errors or mistakes which can be avoided, e.g.

misreading a tape

b) Systematic errors : errors that affect a measurement in a regular and

essentially predicable way e.g. When using an old tape that has
stretched.
c) Random errors: that are irregular and vary in size and sign; random
errors arise from various sources e.g. from personal judgement in reading
the scale of an instrument

d) Object related errors: errors that arises from the object we measure
(leaning tree)

Population: In the statistical sense, a population is an assembly of

individual units that is

usually formed in order to describe the units quantitatively.

Example: all trees greater than 20 cm dbh in a particular forest. Population

may be small or large restricted to a small area or very extension,
homogeneous or heterogeneous.

Sample: In the statistical sense, a sample is a representative part of a

whole population. A small sample of a few individual will adequately
represent a homogenous populations, where as a number of samples will be
required to represent heterogeneous one
●Total height. This is the vertical distance between the base of the tree
stem (ground level) and the topmost tip of the tree. However, practical
problems arise in measuring the topmost tip of trees, for example, in tropical
forests where the tip of a tree is seldom visible from the ground or where
trees have drooping tops (e.g., hemlocks)

●Bole length. This is the distance along the stem between the stem base at
ground level and the base of the (live) crown. The base of the crown is the
point where the lowest living branch is attached to the stem. Stipulations for
measuring lopsided crowns or crowns with dead branches must be laid down
in the survey instructions.

●Merchantable height. This is the distance between the base of the stem
at ground level and upper end of the last merchantable section of the stem.
This point is defined by product-specific minimum-diameter standards, or on
the basis of qualitative features such as branches, irregular stem form, or
stem injury. Its determination in field surveys is liable to subjective
assessment errors.

●Stump height. This is the distance from the ground to the point at which
the stem has been or will normally be cut. In computing volume functions, it
is taken as a constant based on average practice.

● Usable length. This is the merchantable height minus the stump height.

● Sound merchantable length. This is the usable length minus the length
of stem displaying injury.

● Crown length. This is the distance from the crown base to the tip of the
tree.
Accuracy- Forest mensuration does not attempt to secure absolute
mathematical accuracy. For the purpose of sale, a high degree of accuracy is
necessary. In the estimation of volume of timber in a lot, is neither necessary
nor desirable, if more accuracy, result in reduction in waste and control
exercise. So forest mensuration aims is profitable and possible to obtain in
practice. The following are some of the reasons which compel foresters to be
content with relative accuracy-

a) Characteristics of trees- the shape of trees differ from another. some

trees have long stem and short crown and some have small stem and
big crown, some swelling near the base of the trees, buttress and
thickness of bark differ. So no single formula can correctly estimate the
quantity of timber available from the standing tree.

b) Varying methods and conditions of felling and conversion- a standing

tree has to be felled and converted to obtain the timber it’s contains.
The relation which the volume of timber in the standing tree hears to
converted material depends not only on the skill and care with which
felling and conversion are done but also on local conditions when
felling and conversion are done unskillfully involving a lot of waste.

c) Instruments and condition in which they are used- different type of

instruments are giving different figure and condition of using them is
also different.

d) Personal bias of the estimator- predictions of volume of trees and crops

in future have to be based on the growth of trees and cops supposed
to be growing in similar conditions or throughout same conditions.

e) Biological characters of forest- forest not only affected by climatic,

edaphic and topographic conditions but also by biotic factors sp only
rough estimates.
 f) Cost- cost is another important factor governs the accuracy to be
aimed.

Recording Stand Information-

1. Species – full species details should be recorded using scientific names

and provenance details where known. For mixed species stands, all
species and the proportion of each species within the stand should be
recorded.

2. Age – it is preferable that separate records are kept for each stand
planted in a particular year. This may not be possible when one ‘block’
was planted up over a few years and the history is not known.
Maintaining statistics according to age are very useful for monitoring
the growth of the plantation and managing thinning, pruning or other
management activities.

3. Location- the location, that is latitude and longitude coordinates, of the

stand can be determined from the topographical map or global
poisoning system ( G.P.S.).