Testing an integrated set of neighbourhood-based indices for monitoring the structural diversity of forest stands

Abstract

Structural diversity within forest stands can be synthetically described by threemain components: horizontal spatial diversity, in terms of tree spatial distribution;dendrological diversity, created by the mixture of tree species; tree dimensionaldiversity. In the last years, some Authors have proposed simple indexes for quantifyingsuch components. The aim of this note is to present an experimentation carried out intwo Turkey oak high stands in Central Italy for the characterization of their structuraldiversity by an integrated set of neighbourhood-based indices. The obtained resultsprove that such indexes can be easily measured in high stands and are suitable forforest inventory and analytical description of forest compartments, along withconventional forest mensuration.