Simulation of the growth and yield of the species Gmelina arborea Roxb

Abstract

Forests are being threatened worldwide mainly due to the increased demand for wood, 50 % of which is extracted from forests. This is largely because the forest plantations which supply the market grow at a slow rate. Given that, one of the fundamental goals of forestry research is the construction of growth and yield models to be used as a planning tool. In this way, the proposal of this work is to show how, through the modeling and simulation of the growth of a forest stand, the uncertainty of investors is reduced because it allows for the quantification of the production of wood that will be obtained. The study was based on data obtained from inventories conducted between 2012 and 2015 in 31 permanent plots of Gmelina arborea Roxb., located in three municipalities of Tolima: Armero, Coello, and Guamo. Based on the inventory data, three regression models were implemented. These results will be particularly useful for silvicultural management planning as the implemented methodology can be applied in other regions of the world and with other varieties of forest species. As an additional stimulus for investors, the simulation is also able to quantify carbon capture in a technical way to be offered in the carbon bond market

Keywords

• growth simulation for forestry
• silvicultural management
• forest stand
• carbon capture