<p> The purpose of this research is to generate forest stands for sampling simulations on anoperational level. In this research, a simulated forest stand consists of x and y coordinates ofstems and their attributes. One-acre stem maps are mapped stem locations and attributes from thefield. The simulation procedure is a two step process. The first step is to create discrete samplesfrom a one-acre stem map. Secondly, the discrete samples are selected randomly withreplacement and placed adjacently until a simulated forest stand of desired size and shape is built. The simulated forest stands are then compared with the one-acre stem map from which they werecreated by their respective average clump size, spatial point pattern, and spatial variability of stemdiameter. Average clump size is estimated using stem counts from grids of contiguous quadrats(Greig-Smith, 1952). Spatial point pattern is classified based on the mean and variance of first,second, third, and fourth nearest neighbor distances (Smith, 1977). The spatial variability of stemdiameter is assessed using the robust semi-variogram estimator (Cressie et al., 1980) The abilityof the simulation procedure to reproduce the above mentioned spatial characteristics is related tothe second order stationarity of stem diameter in the one-acre stem map. In this case, secondorder stationarity is the premise that the mean stem diameter is constant in the one-acre stem mapand the variance is only dependant on stem separation distance. Stem locations, the speciespercentages, and the coefficient of variation of stem diameter should be assessed to determine theapplicability of this simulation procedure for a particular one-acre stem map. <P>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NCSU/oai:NCSU:etd-19990323-181716 |
| Date | 24 March 1999 |
| Creators | Coulston, John Wesley |
| Contributors | Carlyle Franklin, Bill Smith, Hugh Devine, GIS minor rep, Marcia Gumpertz, Statistics minor rep, Glenn Catts, technical rep |
| Publisher | NCSU |
| Source Sets | North Carolina State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-19990323-181716 |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to NC State University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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