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Unit of Study FORS5005 - Measuring Trees and Forests (2022)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Enrolment information

    There will be a 4 day compulsory residential for all students (Online and On Campus) that will be held on the Lismore campus. Please refer to http://scu.edu.au/timetables for further information on timetables.

Unit description

Considers the measurement of forest characteristics to ensure their proper conservation and management. Trees are big and forests are extensive, so special techniques must be used to measure them accurately. This unit uses a general teaching approach to introduce modern methods and practice of forest measurement.

Unit content

  • Reasons for measuring trees and forests
  • Accuracy, precision and bias of measurements
  • The plane survey
  • Measurement of individual trees – stem diameter, tree height, stem volume and tree biomass. Use of tree volume, stem taper and biomass function
  • Measurement of stands – age, stocking density, quadratic mean diameter, basal area, dominant height, stem volume, biomass, site productive capacity, expression of growth. Point and plot stand measurement
  • Measurement of forests – defining and measuring populations, sampling theory, conduct of inventory. Remote sensing applications.

Availabilities

2022 unit offering information will be available in November 2021

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

carry out basic forest measurements with adequate accuracy and precision

know what measurements are required to achieve some particular objectives of management

plan and execute a forest inventory with adequate precision to serve particular objectives of management.