Sampling sufficiency of the anatomical characteristics of Brazilian hardwood using the resampling method

Abstract

Sampling sufficiency of the anatomical characteristics of fibres from Luehea divaricata wood was investigated through the bootstrap resampling method. Sampling sufficiency of fibre length, fibre diameter, lumen diameter and fibre wall thickness were determined. Three scenarios of sampling sufficiency evaluation were used: general, segregation between juvenile and mature wood, and accumulation throughout the life of the tree. The segregation of juvenile and mature wood showed that sampling sufficiency in juvenile wood was higher than in mature wood, up to three times for the fibre length. In general, results indicated higher values than suggested in specific standards and by other authors. Therefore, resampling bootstrap methodology, even though underused in forestry research, is an alternative for new studies, as it does not have restrictive hypotheses such as data normality.