Calculate the height of a tree based on its diameter at breast height and an allometry parameter

Calculate the height of a tree based on its diameter at breast height and an allometry parameter

Usage

height(dbh, parHeight)

Arguments

dbh

A numeric value representing the diameter at breast height of the tree in cm.

parHeight

A numeric value representing the species height allometry.

Value

A numeric value representing the calculated height of the tree.

Details

This function calculates the height of a tree based on the diameter at breast height (dbh) and a parameter parHeight.

The height is calculated using the formula: $$height = \left( \exp \left( \frac{(\text{dbh} \times \text{parHeight})}{(\text{dbh} + 100)} \right) - 1 \right) \times 100 + 0.001$$ where dbh is the diameter at breast height of the tree in cm and parHeight is an allometric species specific parameter.

All parameters of parHeight from 0 to 1 result in physiologicaly plausible heights. The range from 0.3 to 0.9 results in realistic tree heights. Values of parHeight close to 1 are physiologically almost impossible, below 0.3 is suitable for small tree species and shrubs.

Examples

height(30, 0.5)
#> [1] 12.2315
height(c(30), c(0.5,0.3))
#> [1] 12.231501  7.169349
height(c(30,20), c(0.5))
#> [1] 12.231501  8.691405