A comparison of volume renewal by 3P and traditional methods (Casestudy: forest management plan of Sardabrood)

Field-based volume renewal methods were investigated for two tree species of oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) and Caucasian alder (Alnus subcordata C. A. Mey.) by means of 3P and fully revised volume across district No. 10 of Sardabrood forest management plan. Field inventory included: 1) A full calipering based on 558 sampled trees (516 oriental beech and 42 Caucasian alder) and 2) 3P-based volume renewal using 96 sampled trees (81 oriental beech and 15 Caucasian alder). Compared to the total 613.89 m3 marked oriental beech wood, the renewal resulted in 489.65 m3 full calipering and 488.83 m3 3p method. In case of Caucasian alder, the total marked wood volume of 79.68 m3 was renewed to 88.62 m3 in full calipering and 82.87 m3 by 3P-method. The results indicated a reduction in volume by 10.82 m3 (Oriental beech) and 5.75 m3 (Caucasian alder) compared to full calipering method. The results obtained by t-test also revealed no significant difference between renewed volume by either of the methods for both species. Therefore, the 3P-derived values are concluded to be of high accuracy for volume renewal for practical implementations.