Branchiness of Norway spruce in northeastern France: predicting the main crown characteristics from usual tree measurements

Abstract

This paper is part of a study proposing a new method tor assessing the quality of wood resources from regional inventory data. One component of this method is a wood quality simulation solfware that requires detailed input describing tree branchiness and morphology. The specific purpose of this paper is to construct models that predict the main characteristics of the crown for Norway spruce. One hundred and seventeen spruce trees sampled in northeastern France have been described in detail. The position of the different parts of the crown, the size, the insertion angle, the number and the position of the whorl branches have been predicted as functions of usual whole-tree measurements (ie diameter at breast height, total height, total age) and of the position of the growth unit along the stem (ie distance to the top, and number of growth units counted downward or upward) for branchiness prediction. The most efficient predictors of crown descriptors have been established and preliminary models are proposed.