An article on predicting solar radiation transmittance in pure and mixed stands has just been published in Forest Ecology and Management. This work was carried out on the experimental plots of the OPTMix device. Below are the key points of the article.
Perot, T., A. Mårell, N. Korboulewsky, V. Seigner and P. Balandier (2017). « Modeling and predicting solar radiation transmittance in mixed forests at a within-stand scale from tree species basal area. » Forest Ecology and Management 390: 127-136. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2017.01.023
Highlights:
- Radiation under forest canopy was modelled in mono-specific and mixed stands.
- The Beer-Lambert law can be used in mixed stands with the basal area of each species.
- Extinction coefficients were not different between mixed and mono-specific stands.
- Transmittance can be predicted at local scale within a stand with local basal area.
- Predictions of the model are unbiased with a relative mean absolute error of 20%.
