Author: William S Peay

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13:

Growth and yield model comparisons were conducted to evaluate different model systems, to define geographic bounds on model usage, and to evaluate basal area growth after thinning for the Plantation Management Research Cooperative (PMRC) growth and yield models. Results from the model comparisons showed that despite their differences, the model projections were not statistically different in many cases. The basal area growth evaluation reaffirms our confidence in empirical growth and yield models and their ability to characterize growth in loblolly pine plantations in the southeastern United States. The results from the maximum entropy study yielded conservative estimates for where the PMRC's 2014 growth and yield model should be used. This was done by comparing biophysical factors at locations where data was collected to fit the 2014 model with background locations across the southeastern United States. Estimates of suitability were derived for both the Piedmont/Upper Coastal Plain and Lower Coastal Plain.