[Early diagnosis of low-value forest: an approach of ecological factors]

The management and improvement of low-value forests is an important issue of forestry in China. This paper put forward a new thought of early diagnosis for low-value forest. By applying this method, the forest growth trend before the explosion of the state of low-value forest was diagnosed according to the formation rule of low-value forest, and so, managers could adopt corresponding management measures in time. Taking a case study of Chinese pine plantations in western Liaoning Province, the early diagnosis of low-value forest was studied, and set up early diagnosis techniques of ecological factor approach based on single-factor experiment and discriminant analysis: 1) following discriminant indices were selected: soil thickness (X1), organic matter (X2), soil nitrogen content (X3), soil water content (X4), and soil microbic quantity (X5); 2) discriminant function could be expressed as: Y = 1.596X1 - 0.51X2 - 3.196X3 + 1.622X4 + 1.898X5:3) early diagnosis of low-value forest was carried out by discriminant function and the value of each discriminant index. For early diagnosis of low-value forest, this paper is a pilot study. It is suggested that the forming mechanism of low-value forest and their related study should be strengthened.