Standards for large-scale forest inventories. A comparative study for Italy

Abstract

A comparison has been made between methodologies for forest inventories in Italy, considering aspects as design, sampling units, attributes, forest definitions, statistical methods, estimation models, information quality. Main differences concern the definition of forest categories and the emphasis given to forest attributes like biodiversity, carbon stock, recreational value, geological instability, forest health, which are all increasingly considered in last generation forest inventories.

Keywords

• forest inventory
• new type attributes
• assessment techniques
• estimation models
• regulations