Evaluation of fitting and adjustment methods for taper and volume prediction of black pine in Turkey

Abstract

A modified form (Cao, Q.V. South. J. Appl. For. 33[2]:58–61, 2009) of the taper model of T.A. Max and H.E. Burkhart (For. Sci. 22[3]:283–289, 1976) was used in this study to predict taper and volume of black pine. A total of 16 methods were evaluated, including 4 fitting methods (optimized for taper, cumulative volume, taper and cumulative volume, and taper and total volume) and 4 adjustment strategies (unadjusted, adjusted to match dbh, predicted total volume, and dbh and predicted total volume). Results showed that adjustment did not improve the performance of the taper model. Also for this data set, the model with parameters optimized for taper and either total or cumulative volume performed better than the other fitting methods in predicting both taper and cumulative volume.