Category:Forest inventory

These lecture notes were compiled as supporting material to the lecture “Monitoring of Forest Resources” as given at the the Chair of Forest Inventory and Remote Sensing, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Selection of topics follows, therefore, the structure of that curriculum.

by Prof. Dr. Christoph Kleinn, with contributions by: Philip Beckschäfer, Netra Bhandari, Lutz Fehrmann, Christoph Kleinn, TzengYih Lam, Sebastian Schnell, Dominik Seidel, Haijun Yang

Objectives

Basic data and information is required if a renewable natural resource – such as forest –is to be managed in a reasonable and sustainable manner. Forest inventory is the activity of data collection that helps generating the required information base of the forest resource within an area of interest.

The information requirements regarding the forest resource are as manifold as are the interests in forest as a resource and as an ecosystem. Interested parties are above all decision makers and researchers in forestry and related fields. Forest owners, forest managers and forest politicians are those who demand information about the forest resource, but also regional planners, the wood industry, conservation biologists, tourism people etc. When the group of actually and potentially interested parties can clearly be identified, it is straightforward to plan an inventory such that their specific needs are met. However, frequently, one has to plan an inventory in a flexible manner to serve many different potentially interested experts – without yet knowing all of them exactly.

This lecture notes shall give you an insight into forest inventory from an implementation point of view and also from a research point of view. The major part of the lecture and the lecture notes is on sampling and plot design, which can be described as applied statistics. The principles of statistical sampling are not only relevant in the forest inventory context but in any other empirical discipline as well; it has largely to do with statistical methods of empirical research.

The lecture notes shall help you to understand the principles of forest inventories. You should be able to plan your own inventory in a methodologically sound manner and according to statistical principles. You should know how to write good inventory reports but also how to critically read inventory reports of others, asking the right and relevant questions.

This collection of materials is thought to accompany the lectures. I doubt that it can replace attending lectures and tutorials on a regular basis and / or reading further texts.