Forest Partition Using Echelon Hierarchical Structures

Abstract

In investigation of dynamics or quantitative assessment of trees in a forest, an analysis ofeach partitioned forest is conducted. For such an analysis, it is desirable to use a method fordividing a forest on the basis of similar ecological characteristics, rather than to division atregular intervals. Such areas having common ecological attributes are called patches. Currentlyavailable techniques for identifying patches are based on the limited tree species ortree composition in a grid. However, they do not fully reflect the fact that a forest comprisesvarious species of trees, besides the results are dependent on size of a grid. Therefore, it isnecessary to develop a new method for dividing a forest into patches.

In this article, we develop a technique for identification of patches in a forest using echelonanalysis, which can provide topological structure of space in hierarchically-representeddendrogram. We show that use of echelon analysis enables patch identification based on theinformation of all tree species and forest succession. Furthermore, we apply this techniqueto the actual data of the Ogawa forest in Ibaraki prefecture in Japan to demonstrate itsusability with the results showing the hierarchical structure and heterogeneity of the forest.