Comparing the use of three dendrometers for measuring diameters at breast height


Shangbin Liu

Warnell School of Forest Resources

University of Georgia

Athens, GA 30602

Tel: (706) 583-0566

Fax: (706) 542-8356

Email: sxl6987@owl.forestry.uga.edu

Chris J. Cieszewski

Warnell School of Forest Resources

University of Georgia

Athens, GA 30602

Tel: (706) 542-8169

Fax: (706) 542-8356

Email: biomat@forestry.uga.edu

Michal Zasada

Warnell School of Forest Resources

University of Georgia

Athens, GA 30602

Tel: (706) 542-7587

Fax: (706) 542-8356

and Faculty of Forestry, Warsaw Agricultural University, Poland

Email: mzasada@forestry.uga.edu

 



Abstract: 

Three dendrometers were used to measure diameters at breast height (dbh). Two of the devices are the well-known and widely used d-tape and caliper. The third device is the lesser-known and innovative device called a sector-fork. We use the repeated measures ANOVA method to investigate the discrepancies amongst these dbh measurement instruments, since the dbh readings made from them are highly correlated. The results show that different instruments, the interaction between instruments and diameter classes, and the interaction between instruments and plots significantly affect dbh readings. In general, the d-tape had significantly larger readings than the other two instruments at 1% significance level. The mean dbh difference between the caliper and sector fork showed no significant difference (p-value = 0.9499) when all trees were pooled. The sector fork made larger readings than the caliper in all 3 plots in the thin diameterclass but not in the medium and thick diameter classes

Author Keywords:

caliper, d-tape, sector fork, dbh measurement, repeated measures ANOVA

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