AN APPROACH TO DEVELOPING PROCESS-ORIENTED GROWTH AND YIELD MODELS

This article discusses an approach to developing management-oriented growth and yield models first presented by Khil'mi in 1957 that is based on some underlying principles of plant energetics. By beginning with some reasonable assumptions about energy relationships between plants and their environment and then applying dimensional analysis, models can be developed that are more closely tied to the basic physical and biological processes that drive tree growth and stand development. Further, such models can be practically useful to forest managers faced with decision-making responsibilities. An interesting stand-level survival model developed by Khil'mi is applied to two different data sets as an example application of the approach. Results from the application suggest that process-oriented growth and yield models developed using dimensional analysis can be both biologically intuitive and practically useful. The effectiveness of such models, however, may often depend on obtaining suitable data from permanent re-measurement plots that span a relatively long time period.