Assessing Multiple Estimates of Plantation Productivity

1989

S. 948-954

1 Abb., 6 Tab., 17 Lit. Ang.

Unselbständiges Werk

200088325

Forest managers are often faced with several estimates of plantation productivity. Not only are there different measures of productivity, such as site index or mean annual increment at some fixed age, but estimates of each may be obtained from several sources, including habitat classification systems, soil site equations, and growth measures from young stands. Site index cannot be truly observed until the stand reaches index age, and mean annual increment cannot be truly observed without measuring standing volume at the age of interest. Without observations of these "true" values, common measures of accuracy have only generally evaluated performance compared to a standard method that accurately predicts these values. In this paper, a technique of assessing alternative estimates of site index and mean annual increment in the absence of observations of the true values is presented and is illustrated through a quantitative evaluation of the alternative productivity estimates for young red pine plantations.