Versatile Volume-Defining Function for Natural Loblolly Pine Trees

摘要

Stem-profile (taper) functions are presented by three crown-ratio classes for natural loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) trees growing in the West Gulf area. These functions, when integrated, permit the prediction of volume between any two heights on a stem or, by iteration, the volume between any two diameters on a stem. They generally predicted cubic-foot volumes that were within plus or minus 2 cubic feet of observed volumes and accounted for at least 98 percent of the variation in volume. Examples are given for using the functions and a computer source program is available to evaluate the functions for cubic-foot volume.