DOI: 10.

2478/frp-2020-0010 Leśne Prace Badawcze / Forest Research Papers

Wersja PDF: www.lesne-prace-badawcze.pl Czerwiec / June 2020, Vol. 81 (2): 91–98
review article e-ISSN 2082-8926

Site index research: a literature review

Wojciech Kędziora* , Robert Tomusiak , Tomasz Borecki

warsaw University of life Sciences – SGGw, institute of Forest Sciences, Department of Forest Management Planning and Forest
economics, ul. Nowoursynowska 159; 02–776 warsaw, Poland
*Tel. +48 22 5938204, e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract. The purpose of this paper was to review literature covering the topic of site index with particular emphasis on Scots
pine, the most important forest-forming species in Poland. We discuss the history of the site index, research on various tree
species, statistical modelling methods, the spatial application of site index and age impact assessment.
The history of research on the site index of forest species is long and dates back to the 18th century. Many researchers tho-
ught that determining the quality of the habitat is very important from the point of view of rational forest management. The
site index, as a measure of the potential of the habitat on which the forest grows, is one of the most important characteristics
of forest stands. The site index depends on the selected model, but is most often expressed as the average or top height of trees
of a given species at a certain age.
In our review, we point out several insufficiencies of studies on the site index, external influences and the connection of the
site index with spatial conditions. Furthermore, research conducted so far has not explicitly confirmed that there is a relation-
ship between the site index of pine stands and their geographical location in Poland. More research on the site index, especially
in regard with climate change, is needed.

Keywords: Forest site index, tree growth, forest site quality, forest site productivity

1. Introduction Its value to Polish forestry is increased by the few pro-

blems it poses in its management, its high productivity and
The dynamic changes taking place in the availabili- economic utility.
ty of information enable research to be conducted at an A better understanding of the factors influencing the gro-
increasingly wider scale. Modern methods of collecting wth of pine will contribute to enriching the basic knowledge
field data from a large number of sample plots has allowed about this species, and thus, allow for more effective mana-
many problems, which until recently were unanswered, to gement. The site index of a stand, which characterizes the
be solved. One of such important scientific problems for growth potential of the species, is a good measure of the
forestry is the more complete characterization of the site impact of the surrounding environment on the life of trees.
index and the attempt to spatially characterize forest gro- A constant site index value over time expresses the con-
wth based on this feature. sistency of environmental conditions, while its fluctuations
All tree species are equally important in the biocenosis, indicate that some features of the surrounding ecosystem are
but from an economic point of view, some are given prio- changing. Knowing the variability and dependence of the
rity. In Poland, among all forest-forming species, the Scots site index on external factors can help in understanding the
pine Pinus sylvestris L. deserved and deserves special re- preferences of pine. This is particularly relevant and impor-
cognition. Due to the existing soils and climate forming the tant in the current dynamics of climate change associated
habitat, pine is the most common species in Polish forests. with its warming.

Received: 27.02.2020 r., accepted after revision: 2.04.2020 r.

© 2020 W. Kędziora et al.
92 W. Kędziora et al. / Leśne Prace Badawcze, 2020, Vol. 81 (2): 91–98

The aim of this paper is to review the literature on the main in the stand, this method worked well in reflecting
site index of important forest species, with particular em- the production capacity of the habitat. However, since the
phasis on pine, the most important forest-forming species in use of moderate and strong thinning, there have been in-
Poland. The current state of knowledge about the site index stances where the stock levels were lower in a habitat with
of pine in Poland seems to be insufficient, and the current potentially higher productivity than in one with a lower
possibilities of continuing this research may significantly potential. It turned out that the abundance does not preci-
broaden this knowledge. sely determine the productive potential of a habitat, becau-
se the intensity of the treatment had a significant impact
2. The evolution of measures of the production on the growth of wood resources – after strong thinning,
the potential was often underestimated, whereas with light
potential of the forest
thinning, it was overestimated (Magin 1958). As a result of
research on the site index was conducted as early as in searching for a more convenient measure for the site index,
the 18th century by Oettelt (1764), who defined the height average stand height was chosen as a measure that is less
of the trees as an indicator of ‘soil goodness’. the 19th cen- affected by external factors.
tury brought the development of forestry science, which The measurement of the site index using volume is based
changed the approach to the problem of the site index. on the Eichhorn’s Rule (formulated for fir), which states
Heyer was the first to observe the link between height in- that a certain average stand height for all habitat classes
crement and volume growth (Heyer 1841). He believed corresponds to the same stand volume (Eichhorn 1902). In
that determining the quality of a habitat is important in later years, Gerhardt extended this to spruce and pine (Geh-
terms of its productivity (Heyer 1845). Franz von Baur rhardt 1909, 1921) and reformulated it into the ‘Extended
Eichhorn’s Rule’, stating that there is a relationship between
described average height as the most accurate and only
productivity and habitat-dependent stand height, which was
proper indicator, not only for assessing normal stand gro-
proven by Assmann (1955, 1959).
wth, but also for appraising its site index (Baur 1881). In
this method, the site index was categorized into classes,
with each class assigned to an equal interval of average 3. Height site index
height. these intervals increased proportionally with the
age of the stand. the graphical interpretation resembled Site index, understood as the height of a stand at a particular
the increasing height of ranges, hence its name – the range age, is today the most common way to assess the quality of a
method. it assumed that the height of a stand increases in forest habitat. Currently, there are two approaches to measuring
accordance with the determined height change curve, and it and both use an indicator method – you have to measure the
that stands at a certain age have similar productivity. Since sample trees and check which discount they belong to.
then, despite initial scepticism (e.g., Hartig 1892), the he- The first approach involves measuring the average height
ight site index started to be identified with productivity. and assigning it to a specific grade. However, this has some
this method, called the ‘phytocentric method’, consists of consequences. During natural tree growth, the weakest trees
measuring the vegetation growing in a given area (Sko- lose the competition and are separated from the stand. These
vsgaard, Vanclay 2008). Unlike the ‘geocentric method’, processes are simulated during the tending process. With se-
which is based on the properties of the soil and climate, vere lower thinning, this can lead to a sudden and significant
it is often easier to apply. the phytocentric method usual- increase in the average height. For example, strong bottom
ly involves measuring plant yields. this is often practiced thinning in a 65-year-old stand changes the average height
in farming, but given the differences between the types of from 24.5 m to 25.9 m, which increases the discount by ½
farming and forestry, it is difficult to apply. Annual crop class (Assmann 1968).
harvests in agriculture makes it possible to make long-term The second way is based on the determination of the he-
analyses of productivity changes. Such a way of experi- ight of the upper stand, understood as the average height
menting in stands would require many centuries of rese- of a certain number of the thickest trees on an area of 1 ha.
arch. in forestry, an attempt to solve this problem was to In this case, as a result of thinning or natural processes of
measure yield expressed as volume (assmann 1968) or tree secretion, there will be only slight shifts in the results
the average total production increment calculated for the of the discount. In the study from the experimental plots in
age of 100 years (Philipp 1893). at a time when silvicul- Sachsenried 2, it was found that the difference in height be-
ture practice included light thinning, allowing some of the tween the upper and the average height, with an appropriate
dominated trees in Kraft’s classes 4–5 (Kraft 1884) to re- intensity of cultivation, may decrease from 2.1 m to 1.0 m
 W. Kędziora et al. / Leśne Prace Badawcze, 2020, Vol. 81 (2): 91–98 93

(Assmann 1968). Further studies on the application of ave- index is not constant and may change over time, the site
rage and upper altitude showed that for different thinning index for different species cannot be directly compared.
treatments, differences of up to 3.2 m can be obtained. It should be remembered that the problem is the precise
In both methods, individual variation in height may be a determination of the stand age.
problem. The growth rate deviating from the accepted ‘fan’ Aside from these limitations, the site index is a useful
of the discount results in its change, usually a decrease of measure to use a simple numerical value that is easy to me-
even 0.7 degree of quality. In addition, deterioration of water asure and understand by the practitioner. It will remain in
conditions during stand growth, for example, may cause a use until it is replaced by a meter without these limitations,
reduction of the discount (Assmann 1968). the calculation of which will be equally easy (Avery et al.
It is not only changes in the level of the water table 2019). Therefore, the site index is most often expressed as
that can affect the amount of the discount. It turns out that the upper height of trees of a given species at a specific age
the increase in height varies from one climate to another. (Bruchwald, Kliczkowska 1997; Bruchwald et al. 1999;
Two types of abundance tables from different regions were Sharma et al. 2012; Socha et al. 2017).
compared: Hummel and Christie (1953) for conifers in as mentioned earlier, research on the class and absolute
Great Britain and Wiedemann (1936) for spruce in Ger- site index has been conducted at least since the 18th cen-
many and it turned out that their growth rate is different tury. the main effect of these studies is the construction of
(Magin 1957). models of the coefficient of variation (coefficient curves) for
it is also problematic that different tables used diffe- different species, for example, Douglas fir Pseudotsuga
rent number of discount classes as well as different width menziesii (Mirb.) Franco (Monserud 1984; Means, Helm
of compartments characterizing the classes. Schober (after: 1985; Milner 1992), yellow pine Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex
assmann 1968) proposed that the distances between the c. lawson (Milner 1992), west larch Larix occidentalis
different discount classes should be 4 m at the age of 100 Nutt. (Milner 1992), dune pine Pinus contorta Douglas
(4.5 m for spruce). another proposal was absolute site (Milner 1992), taeda pine Pinus taeda l. (Popham et al.
index (as opposed to class ones), which determined the 1979; cao et al. 1997), the long-needle pine Pinus palustris
height of the stand at the felling age. a problem proved to Mill. (cao 1997), california Pinus radiata D. Don
be the assessment of the site index at a possible change of (Burkhart, Tennent 1977), Pinus sylvestris L. (Bruchwald,
the felling age. Difficulties were also encountered when 1979; elfving, Kiviste 1997; Socha, eagle 2013), Fagus
comparing the absolute tree stand and stand height between sylvatica l. beech (Nord-larsen 2006), spruce of common
the species. an attempt to unify the various proposals was Picea abies L. H. Karst (Kliczkowska, Bruchwald 2000;
made by weck’s postulate that the absolute site index Socha et al. 2015) or black alder Alnus glutinosa l. (Socha,
should be measured as the average stand height at the Ochał 2017).
age of 100 years (weck 1948). However, this created the In the work by Cieszewski and Zasada (2002), a transfor-
problems discussed earlier. therefore, the assmann mation of the Bruchwald’s (2000a) anamorphous site index
proposal is currently the most common form of determining model was carried out to a dynamic form, which allows to
the stand’s site index. this proposal assumes that the site obtain the value of the discount rate for any measured pair
index is the upper height (the height of the 100 thickest trees ‘age-height’ in a less labour-intensive way. The tables of
per 1 ha) at the age of 100 years (assmann 1959). Szymkiewicz’s affluence were successfully transformed by
the absolute site index can be adopted for height Cieszewski and Zasada (2003a) into a voucher model. The
discounting (assmann 1959; Skovsgaard, Vanclay 2008) work by Cieszewski and Zasada (2003b) proposed the use of
and at the same time is unambiguous in designation and a universal method of algebraic differences to derive general
easy to measure, it can be compared without additional dynamic discount equations.
conversions. it should be noted that in forestry, the research on the variability of characteristics of pine trees
desired feature to be determined is the habitat classifi- and stands in Poland, also taking into account the site index, has
cation, determined by means of the stand classification. been conducted for a relatively long time, which determines the
the latter is burdened with a certain error, for example, potentially large amount of comparative material (Bruchwald
inadequate species composition to the habitat or distur- 1977; Keller 1991; Bruchwald, Kliczkowska 2000; Socha,
bed growth conditions in previous periods (Gieruszyński Orzeł 2011). The literature clearly shows the trend of research
1959). From these studies, it results that the stand site on the pine voucher models themselves, both locally
index is not adapted to different species of stands, the (Sewerniak 2008; Beker, Andrzejewski 2013) and nationally
afforestation coefficient is not taken into account, the site (e.g., Cieszewski, Zasada 2003a).
94 W. Kędziora et al. / Leśne Prace Badawcze, 2020, Vol. 81 (2): 91–98

From similar studies, only those limited to the selected 4. Statistical modeling of site index
regions can be found in the literature (Sewerniak, Piernik
2012; Socha, Orzeł 2013). The previous research on the the analysis of the site index was also carried out in
variability of pine stand site index on the national scale has methodological works, focusing on the evaluation of the
indicated the necessity to include additional environmental usefulness of various statistical methods in modelling the
and stand parameters that may potentially affect the value of this feature. in Subedi and Fox’s work (2016) fo-
variability of pine stand site index (Bruchwald et al. cusing on the influence of soil traits on the site index of
2000a). P. taeda pine, the use of multiple and partial regression of
The top stand height was studied by Bruchwald (1979), the smallest squares was compared. wang and colleagues
Socha (2005) and Beker (2007). The latter proposed the (2005) investigated the spatial dependence of the site index on
upper biological height – of the top and dominating trees environmental factors in canada using various statistical
according to Kraft (1884) – as the most accurate in the en- techniques. in their case, the best technique, also dealing
tire life of the stand, but difficult to measure due to the high with unusual data values, was the technique of generalized
labour intensity. additive models (GaM). Similar conclusions have been
Socha and colleagues (2015) in their research deve- reached by researchers dealing with site index in Turkey's
loped discount models for basic forest-forming species mountains (Aertsen et al. 2010). In the Czech Republic and
in Poland (pines, firs Abies alba Mill., ash Fraxinus ex- Slovakia, neural networks were used with prediction of the
celsior L., aspen Populus tremula L., birches Betula L., site index based on climatic data for spruce, beech and fir
black alder, oak Quercus L., beech, larch Larix decidua (Hlásny et al. 2017). in a study from the western United
Mill., spruce, acacia Robinia pseudoacacia L., red oak States (latta et al. 2009), data from the large-area Forest
Quercus rubra L., Douglas fir Pseudotsuga Carriere, hor- inventory were used to model the impact of climate variables
nbeam Carpinus betulus L., lime trees Tilia L. and maple on potential stand productivity. wang (2005) compared four
Acer L.). They have managed to build a mathematical modelling methods (non-linear regression, decision tree,
model of the coefficient of discount based on data from generalised additive models and neural networks) of spatial
the abundance tables used in Poland. For most species, variability of the site index of Pinus contorta Dougl dune
they used a modified model of Cieszewski (Cieszewski, pine. ex loud. in canada’s mixed boreal forest. the
Zasada 2003b), which gave the best results. They also possibility of using remote sensing to determine the site
developed discount models for the main forest-forming index for california P. radiata pine in New Zealand (Watt et
species in Poland, based on the latest empirical material al. 2015) was also investigated. in addition, a model was
(Socha et al. 2017). developed to determine the productivity of the two
In the research carried out in the stands of the southern part variants: with age data and with the variant assuming no such
of Poland (Socha, Orzeł 2013), a set of dynamic discount cu- data (watt et al. 2016).
rves for pine was developed. What is more, it was noted that the
Schwappach’s table model (1943) shows a lower growth rate in 5. Spatial investigation of site index
youth and a higher growth rate in older stands. The mathema-
tical model of Bruchwald (Bruchwald et al. 2000a,b), built ac- Despite many studies carried out so far, there is still lit-
cording to different principles, shows significant discrepancies tle knowledge of the relationship between environmental
between the predicted and actual growth rate. factors and their impact on tree growth in spatial terms. In
In the research carried out in the Niepolomice Forest a study on Populus tremuloides Michx., Chen et al. (2002)
(Socha, Orzeł 2011), a local, dynamic system of site index analysed the impact of the environment on the site index
curves was developed. The research was extended in sub- in a wider spatial dimension, yielding 61% of the expla-
sequent years to include stands from southern Poland ined variability. Some factors had a different impact on
(Socha, Orzeł 2013), as well as to the feature studied in different zones. This shows that the
The work on the inclusion of an increase in altitude or results may vary depending on the spatial scale in which
discount in the mathematical framework was carried out by they are analysed. In the study on the Douglas firing rate,
Stępień (1979), who, using electronic calculation techniqu- P. menziesii compared the use of linear and Geographically
es, determined the coefficients of the equation for calcula- -Weighted Regression in central Idaho, USA (Kimsey et al.
ting discount depending on age for pine, fir, spruce, beech 2008). It was shown that the use of the spatial method al-
and oak. Similar studies were also conducted by Socha lowed to explain by 29% more variability in the site index
(1997) and Jarosz and Kłapeć (2002). and reduced the error by about 53%. The studies conduc-
 W. Kędziora et al. / Leśne Prace Badawcze, 2020, Vol. 81 (2): 91–98 95

ted so far have not confirmed unequivocally that there is depending on the chosen model, is usually expressed as
a dependence of the pine stands’ site index on their geo- the average height of trees of a given species at a certa-
graphical location in Poland. These studies also do not de- in age (Bruchwald 1997, 1999; Sharma et al. 2002; Socha
finitively explain whether the dependence observed locally et al. 2017). However, it is not possible to compare the
is reflected on a nationwide scale (Bruchwald et al. 2000a). site index between species due to the ecology of individu-
al species. Determination of the density of the species in
6. Age impact on site index the stand allows to unambiguously characterize the growth
potential of the habitat (Chen, Klinka 2000; Kliczkowska,
The problem of larger than expected tree growth was Bruchwald 2000; Socha 2005). Modelling of this potential
addressed in a paper by Elfving and Tegnhammar (1996), is most often performed for one tree species. Summarizing
which showed that management can have a significant im- the literature review concerning this problem, it should be
stated that for the basic forest-forming species in Poland,
pact on tree growth. At the same time, it is known that the
that is, pine, there are no current studies covering the stand
growth at height is inhibited by breeding work, that is, cle-
site index on the national scale. This concerns both the sta-
aning and thinning, which can disturb the discount model
tistical characteristics, as well as the influence of external
(Hynynen 1995). Research conducted on spruce in Ger-
factors and the connection of the discount with the con-
many and Austria showed a statistically significant change
ditions prevailing in the spatial system.
in the stand height increment pattern related to the age of
the examined object (Schadauel 1996; Wenk, Vogel 1996).
Similar studies on beech confirm the same relationships Conflicts of interest
(Untheim 1996). At the same time, studies from southern
Germany show that the abundance tables used today do The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.
not reflect well the growth dynamics of trees, most often
overestimating the results obtained empirically (Pretzsch Source of funding
1996). Extensive research on the growth dynamics of spru-
ce and beech stands in Europe since 1870 shows that they This research were funded by WULS-SGGW grants num-
continue to follow the previously determined trends, al- ber: 505-10-032600-L00372-99, 505-10-032600-M00313-
though the stands are increasing their growth more rapidly 99 oraz 505-10-032600-Q00436-99.
(Pretzsch et al. 2014). At the same time, the lengthening
of the growing season and temperature increase accelerate References
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Translated by: Barbara Przybylska