Stefan Daume, Dave Robertson. (2000). A heuristic approach to modelling thinnings. Silva Fennica vol. 34 no. 3 article id 628. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.628

Keywords: thinning; heuristic model; rule-based; knowledge-based

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Thinnings play an important role in guiding forest development and are considered by many to be the most important influence on forests in Central Europe. Due to their importance, thinning models are a major part of any forest growth model for managed forests. Existing thinning model approaches have a number of problems associated with structure and model development that weaken their reliability and accuracy. To overcome some of these problems this paper proposes a heuristic approach to modelling thinnings, where the focus is on distance-dependent, single-tree models. This alternative approach tries to capture the information, strategies and deductive processes likely to be employed by a forester deciding on the removal of individual trees in a stand. Use of heuristics to represent thinning knowledge simplifies the construction and refinement of a thinning model and increases its plausibility. The representation of thinning heuristics in Prolog – a programming language based on formal logic – is a straightforward process without losing expressiveness of the original heuristics. Limited tests of the model implemented in Prolog indicate that the proposed model outperforms its competitors.

Daume, The University of Edinburgh, Institute for Representation and Reasoning, Division of Informatics, 80 South Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1HN, United Kingdom E-mail: stefand@dai.ed.ac.uk
Robertson, The University of Edinburgh, Institute for Representation and Reasoning, Division of Informatics, 80 South Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1HN, United Kingdom E-mail: dr@nn.uk

Click this link to register to Silva Fennica.

If you are a registered user, log in to save your selected articles for later access.

Contents alert

Your selected articles
Send to email

Punttila P., Autio O. et al. (2016) The effects of drainage and restoration of pine .. Silva Fennica vol. 50 no. 2 article id 1462 (remove) | Edit comment

Gartner M. A., Kaltenbrunner M. et al. (2024) Dynamic box assignment planning in log yards Silva Fennica vol. 58 no. 1 article id 23032 (remove) | Edit comment

Heikurainen L., (1957) Changes in depth and top width of forest ditches.. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 65 no. 5 article id 7468 (remove) | Edit comment

Riihinen P., (1963) Economic models underlying forest policy program.. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 75 no. 5 article id 7139 (remove) | Edit comment

Cajander A. K., (1949) Forest types and their significance Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 56 no. 4 article id 7395 (remove) | Edit comment

Schmidt-Vogt H., (1977) Trends in the forest management in Central Europe Silva Fennica vol. 11 no. 1 article id 4961 (remove) | Edit comment

Donnelly L., Grant O. M. et al. (2017) Effect of deployment-type on stem growth, biomas.. Silva Fennica vol. 51 no. 1 article id 1714 (remove) | Edit comment

Ahtikoski A., Väätäinen K. et al. (2024) The effects of the EU’s forest-related policies .. Silva Fennica vol. 58 no. 3 article id 23018 (remove) | Edit comment

Kuusela K., (1960) Variation of the site patterns and growing stock.. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 72 no. 3 article id 7120 (remove) | Edit comment

Suomen tilastoseura ., Finnish Society of Forest Science . (1985) Statistical methods in forest inventory Silva Fennica vol. 19 no. 3 article id 5242 (remove) | Edit comment

Kellomäki S., (1978) Effects of nitrogen fertilization on photosynthe.. Silva Fennica vol. 12 no. 3 article id 5006 (remove) | Edit comment

Tanttu A., (1915) Studies on forest growth of drained peatlands Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 5 no. 2 article id 7011 (remove) | Edit comment

Jansons Ā., Matisons R. et al. (2018) Performance variation of lodgepole pine provenan.. Silva Fennica vol. 52 no. 5 article id 10014 (remove) | Edit comment

Seppälä A., (1960) Publications of the Society of Forestry in Finla.. Silva Fennica vol. 0 no. 103 article id 4691 (remove) | Edit comment

Vehkamäki S., (1993) Pressures for changes in the use of forests Silva Fennica vol. 27 no. 3 article id 5515 (remove) | Edit comment

Pietilä J., (1989) Shape of Scots pine knots close to the stem pith. Silva Fennica vol. 23 no. 4 article id 5391 (remove) | Edit comment

Karjalainen T., Packalen P. et al. (2019) Predicting factual sawlog volumes in Scots pine .. Silva Fennica vol. 53 no. 4 article id 10183 (remove) | Edit comment

Aaltonen V. T., (1934) The development of a forest stand and the growth.. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 40 no. 21 article id 7298 (remove) | Edit comment

Norrlin J. P., (1923) Principles of organization of botanical excursio.. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 23 no. 7 article id 7106 (remove) | Edit comment

Dering M., Sękiewicz K. et al. (2018) Spatial genetic structure and clonal structure o.. Silva Fennica vol. 52 no. 3 article id 9987 (remove) | Edit comment

Kokkonen P., (1926) Observations on the structure of soil frost Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 30 no. 3 article id 7198 (remove) | Edit comment

Lahtinen A., (1993) On the construction of shape preserving taper cu.. Silva Fennica vol. 27 no. 1 article id 5496 (remove) | Edit comment

Palosuo V. J., (1979) Forests for people - World Forestry Congress Silva Fennica vol. 13 no. 3 article id 5035 (remove) | Edit comment

Roitto Y., (1975) Optimization of roundwood transport Silva Fennica vol. 9 no. 1 article id 4915 (remove) | Edit comment

Metsähallitus ., (1937) Professional development courses for foresters i.. Silva Fennica vol. no. 42 article id 4504 (remove) | Edit comment

Kärkkäinen M., (1984) The proper attitude towards birch in forestry Silva Fennica vol. 18 no. 1 article id 5206 (remove) | Edit comment

Omwami R. K., (1988) An economic model underlying the choice of capit.. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 0 no. 204 article id 7651 (remove) | Edit comment

Kujala V., (1929) Populations and the ecological layers of vegetat.. Acta Forestalia Fennica vol. 34 no. 17 article id 7230 (remove) | Edit comment

Modig E., Magnusson B. et al. (2012) Damage to residual stand caused by mechanized se.. Silva Fennica vol. 46 no. 2 article id 442 (remove) | Edit comment

Härkönen S., (1999) Forest damage caused by the Canadian beaver (Cas.. Silva Fennica vol. 33 no. 4 article id 648 (remove) | Edit comment

Kärki T., (1999) Predicting the value of grey alder (Alnus incana.. Silva Fennica vol. 33 no. 1 article id 667 (remove) | Edit comment

Peltola H., Kilpeläinen A. et al. (2007) Effects of early thinning regime and tree status.. Silva Fennica vol. 41 no. 3 article id 285 (remove) | Edit comment

Kaunisto S., Sarjala T. (2003) Foliar potassium concentrations of bilberry, bog.. Silva Fennica vol. 37 no. 3 article id 492 (remove) | Edit comment

Bolli J. C., Rigling A. et al. (2007) The influence of changes in climate and land-use.. Silva Fennica vol. 41 no. 1 article id 307 (remove) | Edit comment

Sterba H., (2004) Equilibrium curves and growth models to deal wit.. Silva Fennica vol. 38 no. 4 article id 409 (remove) | Edit comment

Follow @SilvaFennica