“Nearest-tree” estimations – A discussion of their geometry

Auteurs-es

  • Kim Iles Kim Iles & Associates, Nanaimo, B.C., Canada

Mots-clés :

Unbiased methods, total-balancing, data adjustment, forest inventory, sampling methods

Résumé

The use of “nearest-neighbor” sampling has a long history. It involves measuring the distance from a random point in an area to the nearest object. That history involves never quite solving the problem, many examinations of special cases that never occur, adjustments that were ad-hoc, and a great deal of uninformative algebra. In forestry we have attempted to use the “nearest-tree” method for estimating numbers of trees on a landscape but the method is general, and can be used for any objects being sampled. I believe that the literature has never shown the logic and geometry in a form that is useful to both understand and solve the problem. This paper discusses the method from the geometric point of view, making no assumptions about tree distribution, and shows why extending the processes to the “nth closest tree” much reduces the bias and variability, as well as specifying what is needed to solve the problem in an unbiased way.

Biographie de l'auteur-e

  • Kim Iles, Kim Iles & Associates, Nanaimo, B.C., Canada
    Dr. Kim Iles is an expert in sampling and forest inventory and inventor of many new statistical estimators. He got his B.S. in Forest Management and M.Sc. in Forest Biometrics, from Oregon State University, and Ph.D. Forest Biometrics, from University of British Columbia in 1979. He was the Biometrician and Head of Growth and Yield Dept., MacMillan Bloedel Ltd., Nanaimo, B.C. for 12 years until 1991 and a consultant since then. He is the author of a textbook on Forest Inventory (now in second printing), and he was the principle inventory design consultant for the British Columbia Provincial Inventory design (this inventory covered an area of 100,000,000 hectares). Kim's specialties of Variable Plot Sampling and 3P sampling are the dominant inventory systems used in the North America. He has taught inventory techniques to several thousand professional cruisers on 3 continents, and is the major contributor to the Cruising and Inventory Newsletter published by John Bell Associates. He has been a member of several committees of national standing, and has developed and introduced a number of innovations in cruising systems in North America. /p

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Publié

2009-08-28

Numéro

Vol. 1 No. 2: MCFNS August 28, 2009

Rubrique

Sampling and Natural Resource Inventories

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Comment citer

“Nearest-tree” estimations – A discussion of their geometry. (2009). Mathematical and Computational Forestry & Natural-Resource Sciences (MCFNS), 1(2), 47-51 (5). https://mcfns.com/index.php/Journal/article/view/1.7

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