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Estimating tree cavity distributions from historical FIA data

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Tree cavities provide important habitat features for a variety of wildlife species. We describe an approach for using historical FIA data to estimate the number of trees containing cavities during the 1990s in seven states of the Upper Midwest. We estimated a total of 280 million cavity-containing trees. Iowa and Missouri had the highest percentages of cavity-containing trees; Michigan and Minnesota had the lowest. The percentage of trees containing cavities was higher for the hard hardwood species group and dead trees, and it generally increased with increasing diameter at breast height. Abundance of cavities decreased with increasing cavity entrance diameter and increasing aboveground cavity height.

Parent Publication

Keywords

statistics, estimation, sampling, modeling, remote sensing, forest health, data integrity, environmental monitoring, cover estimation, international forest monitoring

Citation

Nelson, Mark D.; Roy, Charlotte. 2012. Estimating tree cavity distributions from historical FIA data. In: Morin, Randall S.; Liknes, Greg C., comps. Moving from status to trends: Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) symposium 2012; 2012 December 4-6; Baltimore, MD. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-P-105. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. [CD-ROM]: 199-203.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/42740