Abstract:
The focusing of public attention on the practices of forest managers has resulted
in the need for new tools to help explain the results of these practices. The traditional
tools of tables and graphs of numerical values require a significant investment in
learning the forestry profession. Once the investment is made it isn't always easy to
transfer the experience gained in one ecosystem to other forest ecosystems. A tool that
can bridge the gap in understanding is a pictorial display of forest components. A
pictorial display won't provide the exactitude of traditional methods, but it can provide
a basis for promoting the understanding of traditional forms of ecosystem
quantification. The VIZ4ST program is such a tool.
VIZ4ST uses L-systems to render forest trees. The L-systems are calibrated to
existing architectural relationships to eliminate user bias. VIZ4ST uses an inhibition
process to generate coordinates for forest trees. This method is validated with Ripley's
K(d) function in nine mapped forest stands and is found to replicate the detected spatial
patterns well.
