Natural Resource Measurements Dr. Shelburne

Front 1

What is vertical distance?

Back 1

The difference in elevation between two points from the datum plane.

Front 2

What is horizontal distance?

Back 2

The difference in distance between two points; or a line between two points parallel to horizon.

Front 3

What are two kinds of linear determination?

Back 3

Vertical and horizontal

Front 4

What are ways to measure horizontal distance?

Back 4

pacing, measuring tapes, in america we use 100-ft tape or surveyor's tape. or Gunter's chain

Front 5

What is gunter's chain and what is it used for?

Back 5

it is 66 feet long, 10 square chains=1 acre, each link is .66 chains or 7.92 inches, used for surveying

Front 6

What is the true north-south line called?

Back 6

the meridian

Front 7

What is it called if a reference line is indicated by a magnetic compass needle?

Back 7

magnetic meridian

Front 8

What are azimuths?

Back 8

are measured clockwise from due north, beginning at 0 azimuth. They have values from 0 to 3600

Front 9

What are bearings?

Back 9

are horizontal angles that are referenced to one of the quadrants of the compass (i.e., NE, SE, SW or NW). These quadrants contain 900 each (totaling to 360).

Front 10

What are two types of compasses used?

Back 10

hand compass...staff compass

Front 11

What is magnetic declination?

Back 11

The amount and direction by which the magnetic needle is off the true meridian

Front 12

What is the agonic line?

Back 12

where true north is, magnetic north

Front 13

What is mensuration?

Back 13

the act of measuring; geometry applied to the computation of lengths, areas, or volumes from given dimensions or angles

Front 14

What is forest mensuration?

Back 14

deals with the determination of the volume of logs, trees, stands, and with the study of yield

Front 15

What is forest biometrics?

Back 15

the application of measurement methods to the
solution of biological problems of forest resources.

Front 16

What are the four scales of measurement?

Back 16

ratio, interval, nominal, ordinal

Front 17

What is nominal?

Back 17

used for numbering objects for identification, ex. stand 3, crew 4

Front 18

What is ordinal?

Back 18

degree, position, quality, 1st, 2nd, 3rd

Front 19

What is an interval?

Back 19

a series of gradations marked off at uniform intervals from reference point of fixed magnitude. The origin is chosen arbitrarily, with no absolute reference point.
ex. farenheit 33 degrees, humidity 45%

Front 20

What is a ratio?

Back 20

interval scale with an absolute zero
ex. 6.3 inches, 3 cubic cm, weights 777.3 grams

Front 21

What are base units and derived units?

Back 21

base units are measurements for length, mass and time (hours, feet, meters)(fundamental)
derived units are units derived from base units ex. square ft. cubic cm.)

Front 22

What is accurate?

Back 22

success in measuring the true value of a quantity;
an estimator equal to or very close to the true value.

Front 23

What is precision?

Back 23

refers to the clustering of sample values about their
own mean repeatability; similiar to the variance or
standard deviation in statistical terms

Front 24

How can you determine if something is accurate or precise?

Back 24

standard dev. and variance give the precision, closeness to the true value is accuracy

Front 25

What is a bias?

Back 25

systematic distortion that results in a CONSISTENT ERROR

Front 26

What is a variable?

Back 26

a property with respect to which individuals in a
sample differ in some specific way (length, height,
weight, age, sex, etc.).

Front 27

What is a qualitative variable?

Back 27

variable that cannot be measured
but must be expressed qualitatively (dead or alive,
species, sex)

Front 28

What is a quantative variable?

Back 28

variable that is measured or
counted and expressed numerically (number of
trees, height, diameter)

Front 29

What is a continuous variable?

Back 29

results from a measurement.
Theoretically can assume an infinite number of
values between any two fixed points (height, weight)

Front 30

What is a discrete variable?

Back 30

results from a count.
Usually expressed as a whole number or
positive integer. No intermediate values possible
(number of trees, number of sample plots)

Front 31

What is central tendency?

Back 31

there is a tendency for observed values (observations)
to cluster themselves about some interior value.

Front 32

If two modes exist what is the data considered?

Back 32

multi-modal

Front 33

What is considered the best measure of central tendency?

Back 33

the mean

Front 34

What is the standard errror of the mean?

Back 34

a measure of the variation among
sample means. It may be regarded as a
standard deviation among the means of
samples of a fixed size n,
it is s/square root of 'n'

Front 35

What are statistics?

Back 35

The study of making sense of data.

Front 36

What is a population?

Back 36

set of measurements of interest to the collector

Front 37

What is a sample?

Back 37

set of measurements selected from the population

Front 38

What is surveying?

Back 38

is the art of making field measurements that are used to determine the lengths and directions of lines on the earth's surface.

Front 39

what is area?

Back 39

is the two-dimensional extent of a plane or curved surface. it is a measurement derived from the fundamental measurement of length. The square of any unit of length yields the corresponding unit of area.

Front 40

How many feet does one acre equal?

Back 40

43560 feet

Front 41

How much does one hectare equal?

Back 41

2.47 acres, 10000 meters squared

Front 42

What is metes and bounds survey?

Back 42

is a” survey of an an irregular shaped tract of land not conforming to the rectangular systems of surveys.”

Front 43

What article declared this a rectangular
coordinate system for survey of public land owned by the
US government was initiated.

Back 43

Articles of Confederation (1785),

Front 44

How were townships divided?

Back 44

by 36 mile squares=640 x 36

Front 45

What is a row of townships extending north to south icalled? and a row east to west is called?

Back 45

a range, a tier

Front 46

What lines come away from the principal meridian and the baseline?

Back 46

the principal meridian is standard parallels, the baseline is guide meridians

Front 47

What is a principal meridian?

Back 47

north-south line through the initial point.

Front 48

What are guide meridians?

Back 48

true meridians extended north from the baseline or standard parallels at intervals of 24 miles east and west from the Principal Meridian.

Front 49

What are standard parallels?

Back 49

lines of latitude parallel to the base line established at 24 mile intervals north and south from the initial point. It is a true parallel of latitude.

Front 50

What is a representative fraction?

Back 50

specifies the number of ground units of distance represented by one unit of map distance

Front 51

What are the components of a GPS system?

Back 51

satellite segment, control segment, and user segment

Front 52

What does the control segment of the GPS system do?

Back 52

determines if there are clock changes or general malfunctions, 6 ground locations

Front 53

What is the user component of the GPS system?

Back 53

The receiver is a specialized radio receiver, designed to listen to radio signals broadcast from satellites, and calculate a position based on those signals.

Front 54

What is triangulation?

Back 54

a process by which the location of a radio transmitter can be determined by measuring either the radial distance, or the direction, of the received signal from two or three different points

Front 55

What does a GPS determine and how many satellites are need to do this?

Back 55

the latitude, longitude and elevation coordinates of a location, 4 satellites

Front 56

What is Geographic Information systems (GIS)?

Back 56

Powerful computer database programs that can input, store, manipulate, and analyze spatially referenced data

Different types of data are stored as layers

Front 57

What are the individual tree parameters, stand parameters and landscape qualities?

Back 57

diameter, volume, height..
basal area, density, site quality
area, forest health and condition

Front 58

How do we measure diameter?

Back 58

dbh (diameter at breast height), 4.5 ft. from ground, horizontal length perpindicular to the main stem

Front 59

Which dendrometer is the most accurage and which is the most precise?

Back 59

the d-tape

Front 60

What are four ways of measuring diameter, dendrometers?

Back 60

calipers, d-tape, biltmore stick and ocular estimation

Front 61

What is the total height of a tree?

Back 61

the linear distance from ground level to the upper tip of the tree crown

Front 62

What is bole height?

Back 62

the linear distance from ground level to the first live branch

Front 63

What is merchantable height?

Back 63

the linear distance from an assumed stump height to an arbitrarily fixed upper-stem diameter. This length represents the commercially usable portion of the tree stem

Front 64

What is the formula to determine tree height?

Back 64

(tan angle a x D) + (tan angle b xD)= height

Front 65

What are hypsometers?

Back 65

Instruments which are used to make direct measurements of heights by standing at a ‘fixed’ horizontal distance (D) from the base of a tree.

Front 66

How do you determine height from a hypsometer?

Back 66

top reading-bottom read x(D/scale)

Front 67

What are the types of hypsometeres?

Back 67

merrit hypsometer, suunto clinometer, haga altimeter, ocular estimation

Front 68

What is site quality?

Back 68

The productivity of a site for tree growth
It expresses the average productivity of a designated land area for growing forest trees.

Front 69

What are two ways that site quality is measured?

Back 69

measure a characteristic that is considered expressive of site quality (ex. soil depth), or measure one quality that associates with tree growth

Front 70

What are the environmental factors that affect site quality?

Back 70

edaphic- ex. soil depth, pH, nutrient levels, texture, moisture,
Climatic, topographic- altitude, slope angle, position and length,
competitive-other trees and vegetation

Front 71

What is the most widely used characteristic for site evaluation?

Back 71

the relationship of tree height to age or the average height that the dominant and codominant trees will attain at key ages such as 50 or 100
Site INDEX

Front 72

Why is SITE INDEX most commonly used?

Back 72

it provides a quantitative expression rather than a description, height is closely related to volume, and height and age are easy to measure

Front 73

How do you determine crown diameter?

Back 73

take tape to the crown of a tree, on the ground and measure from the cardinal directions and average them

Front 74

How do you determine crown height?

Back 74

same procedure as for determining tree height. Units in feet (or meters). Vertical distance from the base of live crown to the top of the tree.

Front 75

What is the live crown ratio?

Back 75

The percentage of total height supporting live foliage that is contributing to tree growth
ratio of crown length to total height
used to evaluate vigor and growth rate of trees

Front 76

What are the Stand distribution of tree crown categories?

Back 76

dominant, codominant, intermediate suppressed

Front 77

What are dominant crown parameters?

Back 77

trees with crowns extending above the general
level of the crown cover (forest canopy) and receiving full
sunlight from above and partly from the side; larger than
average trees in the stand, with crowns well-developed.

Front 78

What are codominant crown parameters?

Back 78

trees with crowns forming the general level of
crown cover (forest canopy) and receiving full sunlight from
above, but comparatively little from the sides; usually with
medium-sized crowns more or less crowded on the sides.

Front 79

What are intermediate crown parameters?

Back 79

trees shorter than those in the two preceding classes,
but with crowns either below or extending into the crown cover
(forest canopy) formed by codominant and dominant trees, receiving
little direct light from above and none from the sides; usually
with small crowns considerably crowded on the sides

Front 80

What are suppressed crown parameters?

Back 80

trees with crowns entirely below the general
level of the crown cover, receiving no direct light from either
above or from the sides

Front 81

What is age of a tree?

Back 81

the length of time elapsed since germination of the seed or budding of the sprout

Front 82

How do you measure the age of a tree? and with what tool?

Back 82

drill a hole at breast height, increment borer

Front 83

What is an Even-aged stand?

Back 83

a group of trees that originated within a short period of time, more popular in shade intolerant species

Front 84

What is an Uneven-aged stand?

Back 84

a stand consisting of trees of many ages and corresponding sizes
The trees have originated at different times in a stand free of major disturbances
it is multi-aged

Front 85

What are fixed area plots?

Back 85

circular plots, rectangular plots that are locations established and trees are measured

Front 86

What is species composition?

Back 86

the distribution of individuals among the different species across a stand

Front 87

What is an importance value?

Back 87

a measure of species composition that combines species frequency, species abundance, and species dominance

Front 88

What is frequency, abundance and dominance in relation to the species composition?

Back 88

frequency: the number of sampling units in which a species is found
abundance: the number of individuals in a population
dominance: an expression of the size of individuals in a population

Front 89

What is stand density?

Back 89

a quantitative term used to describe the degree of stem crowding within an area

Front 90

What is stocking?

Back 90

a qualitative expression that compares the existing number of trees within an area to the number desired for optimum growth and yield

Front 91

What is basal area?

Back 91

cross-sectional area of a tree taken at breast height (ft2/acre)

Front 92

What are ways that stand density can be expressed?

Back 92

basal area, number of trees per acre, and volume using board feet

Front 93

What is the basal area conversion factor?

Back 93

.005454

Front 94

What is the formula for basal area?

Back 94

(sum of di squared x c) x unit area (10000 m)/sample area

Front 95

How do you convert area to feet squared? what are the original units?

Back 95

inches squared, to convert to feet divide pie, r squared by 144

Front 96

What are horizontal point samples?

Back 96

Where the probability of sampling a tree is proportional to the tree’s size., using a prism to select tree samples according to the tree's size

Front 97

What are the four parts of a tree?

Back 97

the roots, the stump, the stem and the crown

Front 98

Which part of the tree is more usable wood and receives more attn. for volume determination?

Back 98

the stem

Front 99

What is a merchantable stem?

Back 99

Portion of the stem above a fixed height above the stump to 1) the point where the last merchantable cut can be made or 2) a minimum upper stem diameter.

Front 100

What is a log?

Back 100

A merchantable stem with a fixed length (16 feet)

Front 101

What is The linear distance from an assumed stump height to the merchantable minimum top diameter. Generally in the 6 to 8 inch range?

Back 101

the sawlog merchantable height

Front 102

What is The linear distance from an assumed stump height to the merchantable minimum top diameter. Generally in the 4 inch class
?

Back 102

pulpwood merchantable height

Front 103

What is volume?

Back 103

is the three-dimensional magnitude of an object
is the traditional measure of wood quantity

Front 104

What does volume fucntion for?

Back 104

tree height, basal area, stem length, tree diameter

Front 105

What is one of the most difficult parameters to measure?

Back 105

volume

Front 106

Who created three stem/log volume equations?

Back 106

huber's, smalians, newton's

Front 107

What is wrong with Huber's equation?

Back 107

he assumed that the mid-point of logs is where the cross-sectional area can be found

Front 108

What is wrong with Smalian's equations?

Back 108

it requires measurements at both ends of the logs, but it is the least accurate

Front 109

What is a disadvantage of Newton's equation?

Back 109

its time expense limits the amount of research that can be done

Front 110

What is board feet?

Back 110

144 cubic inches of wood

Front 111

What are two types of volume tables?

Back 111

single entry(local volume)- only one variable used to estimate volume
multiple entry (standard volume)-more than one variable used

Front 112

Why is tree volume important?

Back 112

volume is needed to determine the value of timber in a given stand

Front 113

What are ways of estimating stand volume?

Back 113

ocular estimation, inventory procedures (ex. fixed plots, horizontal point samples), and by stand volume equation

Front 114

What is a stand volume equation?

Back 114

total basal area x average height time a form factor

Front 115

Who was the first to classify vegetation and how did he do it?

Back 115

Baron von Humbolt, 18th century, organized based on elevation and latitude zones

Front 116

Who is Rexford Daubenmire?

Back 116

pioneered use of plant associations to classify sites in NA in the 1950s

Front 117

Why do we classify forests?

Back 117

for common language, to develop vegetation-environmental relationships, and to create a resource inventory

Front 118

What are the three types of forest classfication systems?

Back 118

forest cover types, habitat type, ecological land classifcation

Front 119

What is the forest cover type system?

Back 119

developed by the Society of Ameircan foresters, the standard system, based on the dominant species with the greatest basal area

Front 120

Describe the habitat type classfication system.

Back 120

says that understory will be more stable, uses potential natural vegetation, includes 1 or 2 understory and overstory species

Front 121

Describe the Ecological Land classification system?

Back 121

also known as the LEC_landscape ecosystem classification system, uses abiotic factors, uses rankings, and levels, used for regions in the US

Front 122

What were the first LEC techniques?

Back 122

Daubenmire, plant associations
Site Index-Eastern US- not accurate, only for commericial species, and not for land itself

Front 123

What are the components of the LEC objective?

Back 123

landform, vegetation and soil

Front 124

What are the different soil types?

Back 124

mesic, submesic, intermediate, subxerix, xeric-being clayey subsoils with thin surfaces

Front 125

What is soil?

Back 125

A collection of natural bodies composed of minerals, organic matter, air, and water that is a result of combinations of natural processes and factors of soil formation

Front 126

What is a soil pedon?

Back 126

3D smallest body of soil describe only about 1-10 in of area

Front 127

What are the factors for soil formation?

Back 127

time, climate, vegetation and animals, parent material, topography

Front 128

What is the order for soil profiling horizons?

Back 128

o,a,e,b,c, r

Front 129

What is the first soil profile horizon? and describe

Back 129

organic layer "o" horizon, dominated by living things, sometimes called root mat

Front 130

Label the 'o' horizon soil layer according to decomposition?

Back 130

sapric-highly decomposed, o hemic- and o fibric-slightly decomposed

Front 131

What is the second layer in the soil profile horizons?

Back 131

A layer, organic accumulation, coarse material, loss of clay and minerals, upper layer mineral soil,

Front 132

What is the third layer for the soil profile horizons?

Back 132

E layer, Zone of Eluviation, loss of clay, aluminum and iron, same texture but less organic so lighter in color

Front 133

What soil profile horizon comes after the E horizon?

Back 133

B Horizon, Zone of Illuviation, accumulation of clay, iron and aluminum, no organic material, horizon may not exist in young soils

Front 134

What is the 5th soil profile horizon?

Back 134

C layer, Unconsolidated Parent Material. no structure or influence on biological activity, may or may not be from soil formed

Front 135

What is the last soil profile horizon?

Back 135

R Horizon, Bedrock, parent material, solid

Front 136

What does dark, reddish and grey colored soils tell us?

Back 136

dark- organic material exists, reddish-iron (well-drained), grey-lack of iron (poorly drained)

Front 137

What are the three components to soil color?

Back 137

hue-relation or red to yellow, value-lightness or darkness of color-light (low-dark, high value-light), chroma- low (more gray), high chromas (less gray)

Front 138

What is the topmost layer of organic/mineral soil called?

Back 138

epipedon soil

Front 139

When the value/chroma is higher than 3/3 what is the soil layer called? is this little soils or most soils?

Back 139

ochric epipedon, most soils

Front 140

When the value/chromas is lower than 3/3 what is the soil layer called?

Back 140

umbric and mollic epipedon

Front 141

What are ways that we describe soils?

Back 141

color, texture (sand, silt, clay), touch method- clayey, fine loamy, or coarse loamy,

Front 142

What is the names of the categories for soil taxonomy?

Back 142

1. order 2. suborder 3. great groups 4. subgroups 5. families 6. series

Front 143

What are the major orders of soils in the South eastern US?

Back 143

1. entisols-young soils, no b horizon, have ochric epipedon, little horizon development
2.Inceptisols-mountain soils, some horizon, ochric epipedon (lighter), development of B horizon (cambic horizon)
3. Ultisols-well developed horizons, ochric and umbric epipedon layers, b-hor. 20% in clay and heavy loss of bases (ca, mg, etc)

Front 144

What is humus?

Back 144

the "O" horizon, mor or mull

Front 145

What can piedmont tell us about the physiological properties of the soil? what about hilly coastal plains? Blue ridge mountains?

Back 145

a high % clay close to the surface decreases productivity, sandy so a higher % clay helps productivity, -as thickness increases, productivity increases

Front 146

What is the difference in soil with SW slopes and NE slopes?

Back 146

SW ridges-xeric soil, thin and exposed
NE-protected toe-slopes, thick, mesic

Front 147

What can effect slope position?

Back 147

solar radiation and evapotranspiration, water interflow, and age of soils

Front 148

What are the effects on the convex slope and a concave slope?

Back 148

convex-decreased productivity, thinner soils, more erosion, water escapes more
concave-water collects, increased productivity, a-horizon thickening and accumulation of soils

Front 149

is the values for the landform index are high what does this mean? low?

Back 149

high-well protected sites, ravines streams, covers
low-slopes and ridges,exposed sites

Front 150

What is relative density?

Back 150

density of one species as a percent of total plant density

Front 151

What is relative basal area?

Back 151

basal area of one tree species as a percent of total basal area

Front 152

What are the components for the importance value for vegetation?

Back 152

relative frequency, abundance and basal area

Front 153

How do you determine the importance value for trees and sablings? herbs seedlings and shrubs?

Back 153

trees ans saplings-relative density+relative BA/2) x 100
herbs..etc..-relative density and/or relative BA

Front 154

For constancy in vegetation (the probability of a species occurring in a plot) what signifies low constancy?

Back 154

less than 33%

Front 155

What is a good indicator species?

Back 155

a species with high constancy and high fidelity-degree of which a species will occur under certain site conditions-high-will ONLY

Front 156

What tools are used for landform index data and terrain shape index data?

Back 156

hand-held clinometer

Front 157

For the aspect what tool is used to measure the azimuth?

Back 157

a hand-compass

Front 158

What do we use to dig into the soil?

Back 158

a soil auger

Front 159

What tools measure height?

Back 159

Haga altimeter, Suunto clinometer-both to the nearest foot Merrit hipsometer