Forest mensuration and forest inventory

Duration

20h Th, 24h Pr, 4h FT

Number of credits

Lecturer

Adeline Fayolle, Philippe Lejeune

Coordinator

Adeline Fayolle

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Dendrometry (tree and forest stand measurements) and its role in forest science. - Size of trees (definitions, measurement devices, errors) - Height of trees (definitions, measurement devices, errors) - Other trees fetures (age, bark thickness, crown, stem) - Shape and size of trees (shape,reference volume, branches and wood piles) - Woody mass and biomass (general concepts and determination) - Volume tables (construction, precision, applications) - Characterization of forest stands (medium size, distributions, average height, density) - Measuring forest stands (surface, full inventory, determination of volumes, Bitterlich's relascope) - Growth of trees and forest stands (growth types, determination) - Estimation of forest productivity (methods, critical analysis) - Tables and production models (concepts, constructs, uses) - Inventory by sampling (basics, sampling units, production, random sampling, stratified, systematic, multi-phase, multi-stage, spots ...)

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Analysis, mastery and application of techniques for measuring trees and forest stands for knowledge and resource planning and determination of their value.
At the end of this course, students should be able to: - use the main tools to measure trees; - characterize a tree or stand with adequate mensuration;
- design a sampling plan and process a forest inventory dataset; - build and use volume tables of stand or trees; - build and use production tables and growth models.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Mandatory prerequisities :
STAT1207-1 FORE0022-3
Knowledge of the operating system of a personal computer (directory and file management)
To be able to use Word, Excel and to perform statistical analyses (R or Minitab)

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Lectures : 18 h Practical Works : 30 h

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Face-to-face

Recommended or required readings

RONDEUX J. (1999) - La mesure des arbres et des peuplements forestiers. PARDE J., BOUCHON J. (1988) - Dendrométrie DAGNELIE P. (1992) - Statistique théorique et appliquée (tome 1) DAGNELIE P., PALM R. RONDEUX J., THILL A. (1988) - Tables de production pour l'épicéa commun RONDEUX J., THIBAUT A. (1996) - Tables de production relatives au douglas DAGNELIE P., PALM R., RONDEUX J., THILL A. (1999, 2e éd.) - Tables de cubage des arbres et des peuplements forestiers

Assessment methods and criteria

Written examination :
- 50% for theory,
- 50% for practices (with course material).

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Participation in practical work sessions and field trips is mandatory. These activities are followed by written reports which are taken into account for the final grade of this course.

Contacts

Adeline Fayolle adeline.fayolle@ulg.ac.be
Philippe Lejeune p.lejeune@ulg.ac.be

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