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Updated: Apr 24, 2026

Development of an Individual-Tree Basal Area Increment Model using a Linear Mixed-Effects Approach
Published on: July 3, 2020
Growth modeling in diameter and height at individual tree level for seasonal semi-deciduous forest
L T M Figueiredo1, C P B Soares2, H G Leite2
1Universidade Federal de Goiás - UFG, Goiânia, GO, Brasil.
None:
The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare two methodologies for estimating diameter at breast height (dbh) and total height at the individual tree level over time: (i) direct projection of future tree diameter and height (dbh2 and Ht2) and (ii) projection of the annual periodic increment in diameter (APId) and height (APIHt), which, when added to the initial values, provide estimates of future dbh and height. The data were obtained from 10 permanent plots installed in a seasonal semi-deciduous forest fragment located in the municipality of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil, monitored over a 14-year period with measurements conducted in 1994, 1997, 2000, 2004, and 2008. The dataset was randomly divided into two subsets, with six plots used for model fitting and four plots for validation. The results indicated that equations based on the direct projection of future diameter and height provided a better fit to the observed data than those based on estimating annual periodic increments and subsequently reconstructing the state variables. In the validation process, both methodologies showed satisfactory performance, with a slight superiority for the approach based on the projection of annual periodic increments.
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