medfate (version 4.3.1)

forest: Forest description

Description

Description of a forest stand

Usage

emptyforest(ntree = 0, nshrub = 0, nseed = 0)
# S3 method for forest
summary(object, SpParams, ...)
# S3 method for summary.forest
print(x, digits = getOption("digits"), ...)

Value

Function summary.forest returns a list with several structural attributes, such as the basal area and LAI of the forest. Function emptyforest returns an empty forest object.

Arguments

ntree, nshrub

Number of tree and shrub cohorts, respectively.

nseed

Number of species in the seed bank.

object

An object of class forest has the following structure (see details):

• treeData: A data frame of tree cohorts (in rows) and the following columns:

  • Species: String with species (taxon) name or a non-negative integer for tree species identity (i.e., 0,1,2,...) matching SpParams.

  • Height: Total tree height (in cm).

  • DBH: Tree diameter at breast height (in cm).

  • N: Density (number of individuals/hectare) that the measured tree represents.

  • Z50: Depth (in mm) corresponding to 50% of fine roots.

  • Z95: Depth (in mm) corresponding to 95% of fine roots.

• shrubData: A data frame of shrub cohorts (in rows) and the following columns:

  • Species: String with species (taxon) name or a non-negative integer for shrub species identity (i.e., 0,1,2,...) matching SpParams.

  • Height: Average total height of plants (in cm).

  • Cover: Percent cover.

  • Z50: Depth (in mm) corresponding to 50% of fine roots.

  • Z95: Depth (in mm) corresponding to 95% of fine roots.

• herbCover: Percent cover of the herb layer (optional).

• herbHeight: Mean height (in cm) of the herb layer (optional).

• seedBank: A data frame containing seed bank information with the following columns:

  • Species: String with species (taxon) name or a non-negative integer for tree species identity (i.e., 0,1,2,...) matching SpParams.

  • Percent: Amount of seeds in relation to full seed bank (in %).

SpParams

A data frame with species parameters (see SpParamsMED).

...

Additional parameters for functions summary and print.

x

The object returned by summary.forest.

digits

Minimal number of significant digits.

Author

Miquel De Cáceres Ainsa, CREAF

Details

Function summary.forest can be used to summarize a forest object in the console. Function emptyforest creates an empty forest object.

The structure presented above for forest objects corresponds to the required data elements. A forest object can contain additional information when this is available. Data frames treeData and shrubData can contain additional columns:

• LAI: Leaf area index (m2/m2)

• FoliarBiomass: Standing dry biomass of leaves (kg/m2)

• FuelLoading: Fine fuel loading (kg/m2)

• CrownRatio: The ratio between crown length and total height (between 0 and 1)

Similarly, one can define forest list elements herbLAI, herbFoliarBiomass or herbFuelLoading. All these values are used to override allometry-based estimates of those variables when initializing inputs for functions spwb or spwb_day. Note that leaf area index, foliar biomass and fuel loading are related entities, and they are treated as such in medfate. Therefore, users are expected to supply one or the other, and not all of them at the same time.

See Also

exampleforest, forest_mapWoodyTables, forest_mergeTrees, plot.forest, tree2forest

Examples

data(exampleforest)
data(SpParamsMED)

# Prints forest as a list of data items
exampleforest

# Summary of example forest
summary(exampleforest, SpParamsMED)