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Canopy cover by species?

Started by RynSmith, May 07, 2013, 02:10:54 PM

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RynSmith

I'm wondering if anyone is familiar with this as a forest metric?  Obviously I know what percent canopy cover is and how one goes about collecting that data, but I've never heard of describing a forest by the percent canopy cover by each species.  Has the 'art and science' changed this much in the 20-some (:o) years since I was in school?

I'd appreciate your 'nope, never heard of it' as much as your 'yep, get with it' answers.  ;D

Texas Ranger

'nope, never heard of it'

But I have been out of school longer than  you.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

mesquite buckeye

Seems like normal plant ecology terminology. Total canopy cover should be the sum of canopy cover by species. Easy to do with a line transect looking up.

Get with it. ;D ;D ;D
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

Texas Ranger

Not releasing a big secrete, but, most of my/our work is concerned with basal area by species.  Crown cover comes in when we look towards natural regeneration, by that time we should have species under control. I'm in Texas so your mileage may var;y.
The Ranger, home of Texas Forestry

RynSmith

Quote from: mesquite buckeye on May 07, 2013, 03:33:12 PM
Seems like normal plant ecology terminology.

Way to unknowingly hit the nail on the head, Mesquite.  ;D

I'm trying to make the point that different types of plants have different (and accepted) methods of quantification that don't necessarily apply to other types of plants.  In 'my world' plant ecology ≠ forestry.

Quote from: Texas Ranger on May 07, 2013, 03:41:35 PM
most of my/our work is concerned with basal area by species.

Now that-there is forestry!  ;D


RynSmith

Quote from: mesquite buckeye on May 07, 2013, 03:33:12 PMEasy to do with a line transect looking up.

Are you sure that Doug-fir branch 150' up is right over where you're standing?  :snowball:   ;D

And while I'm asking questions, weren't all of the wintry emoticons supposed to revert to whatever they used to be at some point?  :D

SwampDonkey

It's what we call 'forest development' and been done for decades. The stands are actually numbered and in a database. It describes species percentages and maturity off areal photography. A percentage is ground truthed with surveys as well. For years one could go get a copy of the map from DNR, it was gridded off by so many degrees lat/long. These delineations have been used for years to plan harvesting, wood supply analysis, deer wintering areas and silviculture. It was also used in forest modelling such as 'Woodstock', which I think has been around since the 80's. Still being used I believe.

I used to use the maps all the time to find grouse hunting spots on public land because the old grown in roads were also on the maps. I would walk those old roads and get my bag limit of birds with no trouble at all. :)

Here's an old one from 1985.







The circle with an x inside is a photo centre, across the top of the photo.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

KBforester

When I graduated (2007) a measurement getting some attention was leaf area.. that is to say sq inches of leaves. Like all of them. Not just an overhead view.
Trees are good.

mesquite buckeye

... and leaf area index. Good luck getting that from an aerial photo. Just because it is important doesn't mean that it is either easy to measure or to interpret. ;D


I like the snowball guys. :snowfight1:

It would be nice if we had a better tree than this one. smiley_airfreshener
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

SwampDonkey

Quote from: mesquite buckeye on May 07, 2013, 04:58:40 PM
... and leaf area index. Good luck getting that from an arial photo.

Good luck getting it from the ground to when the tree is still standing. We actually have aerial photography now that is like taking a photo right out in the yard. No interpretation needed, it is what it. ;D  I suppose someone has come up with the benefits of such a survey if they are studying birds and monkeys. ;D But there is other technology to ID a tree or plant from the air besides using visible light.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

WDH

I have never used canopy cover by species.

Seems like a very subjective measurement. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

mesquite buckeye

Even more fun when you are working with 20 or more species of tree. 8)
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

RynSmith

Hey SD, you've generated some questions from me (sorry :-\)  - could you explain how the ground-truthing data collection works?  I've had it suggested that I pull a tape in two 90 degree directions (or the two longest parts of the crown?) to get a sqare foot/metre overall canopy of an individual tree.  Also haven't really heard (from not the FF folk) about how different cohorts of the same species are treated, was that addressed in these plots?  Finally, for now (calling dibs on later questions!), could you translate two of the notations on that map?  I wrote down: 4422 SP6BS2 WP2M63 5 and 4725 SP4BF4 BS2M3 22 as two adjacent examples... 

Thank you for your input here.   :)

And thank everyone else, too.   :)

mesquite buckeye

I would make one small comment re: basal area vs canopy area. Basal area is a lagging indicator of what the tree is doing. In other words, first you have to grow a canopy before you can thicken up the stem. I think this would be particularly evident following thinning, species dieoff from a disease, insect, drought, etc, or a blowdown event.

I think looking up when checking a forest is very important to evaluate future growth, as well as checking for trees that need to be salvaged before they become mulch. This is also a great way to trip over a log or fall into a gully, but everything is a tradeoff, isn't it? ;D

My family originally came from Germany, where they are known to have trees. Dad said the old guys, who by the way didn't speak English quite so good, used to say when you start to see the twigs dying at the top of the tree, that tree is on its way out. That was their way of knowing when and which trees needed to be made a priority for harvest. There are lots of signs that can be read if we pay attention smiley_old_guy
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

RynSmith

Quote from: mesquite buckeye on May 07, 2013, 09:05:44 PM
Even more fun when you are working with 20 or more species of tree. 8)

I'd be curious to hear about your ground-truthing plots too, Mr. Snowball.  And, now that I think of it, your aerial photo interps of southern hardwoods!   ;D  :snowball:  :P

WDH

A stand and stock table with heights and diameters by species can very accurately describe a timber stand, and you can develop one of these from a standard timber cruise.  What would canopy cover by species be used for?
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

mesquite buckeye

Very cute. ;D

I can pretty much tell a mesquite from an ironwood or a palo verde from at least a half mile off. You can pick up Cottonwoods from 5 miles, as they are big ones. Catclaw would be tougher. The closest I get to aerial photograph are satelite photos. Here, we can climb up the nearest hill or mountain to get a good look. Just finding a patch that you can call a forest in the desert is challenging.

In Missouri, it is only 80 acres and I know most of the trees on a first name basis. smiley_big-grin2
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

beenthere

Ryn
Tell us more about your objective behind this thread, please.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

mesquite buckeye

Quote from: WDH on May 07, 2013, 09:28:24 PM
A stand and stock table with heights and diameters by species can very accurately describe a timber stand, and you can develop one of these from a standard timber cruise.  What would canopy cover by species be used for?

I'm thinking you might be able to predict winners and losers if you watched it over time. Maybe prediction of rates and direction of succession under whatever management scheme was in place. It definitely would be a different approach, particularly if you can split out 10 or 20 oaks by their reflectivity wavelength signature. It would sure be fun to look at to determine whether or not it could be useful. Good tenure track young forestry researcher project.
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

SwampDonkey

Quote from: RynSmith on May 07, 2013, 09:16:35 PM
Hey SD, you've generated some questions from me (sorry :-\)  - could you explain how the ground-truthing data collection works?  I've had it suggested that I pull a tape in two 90 degree directions (or the two longest parts of the crown?) to get a sqare foot/metre overall canopy of an individual tree.  Also haven't really heard (from not the FF folk) about how different cohorts of the same species are treated, was that addressed in these plots?  Finally, for now (calling dibs on later questions!), could you translate two of the notations on that map?  I wrote down: 4422 SP6BS2 WP2M63 5 and 4725 SP4BF4 BS2M3 22 as two adjacent examples... 

Thank you for your input here.   :)

And thank everyone else, too.   :)

No trouble at all. ;D

A POC (point of commencement) is established from a road to the first point. The points are established on a map and photo, and a minimum of 4 points go in a stand boundary. In your examples the 4 digit number at the start is the stand number.

Crown closure is subjective really. It's just a view, from plot centre, of the canopy and an estimate of how much of the sky is filled, not really bounded by a fixed area (other than within the stand), just what you can see around your view point. Most likely within 100 feet of where you stand. You have to look out a ways, otherwise your just looking up into the crowns of a couple or three trees. We don't do C/C on an individual tree, it's by stand, between neighboring trees.

We also do a bit of grouping of species, except softwood except if it's a mix of softwoods. If it's red or/and white spruce it's spruce (SP), or black spruce (BS). Deciduous trees are grouped by shade tolerance such as Intolerant hardwood (IH) for aspen and birch and Tolerant hardwood (TH) for sugar maple, beech.

As to your examples: ;D

4422 SP6BS2 WP2M63 5

Stand # 4422
SP6 = red spruce 60 %
BS2 = black spruce 20 %
WP2 = white pine 20 %
M = mature
63 = patchy crown closure 50-70% (means a lot of big voids and the trees are in small groups).
5 hectares in size

4725 SP4BF4 BS2M3 22

Stand # 4725
SP4 = red spruce 40 %
BF4 = balsam fir 40 %
BS2 = black spruce 20 %
M = mature
3 = 50-70% crown closure
22 hectares in size

If there is an * on the label, it means there is another age class not labeled and you'll notice species composition won't add up to 100 % in those labels.

Have a good one. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

mesquite buckeye

Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

RynSmith

Quote from: beenthere on May 07, 2013, 09:39:01 PM
Ryn
Tell us more about your objective behind this thread, please.

My objective was to find out if any foresters had ever used percent canopy cover by species to quantify a stand.  Seems like I got two nopes and two yeps.

That metric is often used as one way to quantify understory using point/intercept or some such, but I had never heard it used for the overstory.  Figured I could ask on here if others had.

Thanks for your explanation SD.

And then there was some funning with Mesquite...   :)

mesquite buckeye

Who, me? ;D

Only partly in fun. Serious also. It's always good to try to look at things from a fresh perspective. In this way we learn new things that hadn't been noticed before. dadgum you, Charlie!
Manage 80 acre tree farm in central Missouri and Mesquite timber and about a gozillion saguaros in Arizona.

Jamie_C

It's used extensively here in NS as well, exact same way as SD explained.

beenthere

Thanks Ryn
Seems a future use may be to incorporate the ground findings with the satelite remote sensing possibilities, and build a model that can be used over time to keep track of forest stands and densities. ??
Maybe a bit far fetched, but am sure there are those who can and likely will do such modeling.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

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