Spatial Variability and Sampling Structures for Forest Fuel Material Estimation

ABSTRACT The aim of this work was to model the spatial dependence of fuel material deposition on the ground in a pine stand, and to simulate and evaluate sampling procedures for estimating it. Branches with diameters up to 0.7 cm (A) and from 0.71 to 2.5 cm (B) were collected. Subsequently, the structures of systematic sampling and linear clusters were simulated for 50%, 33% and 23% of the total sample size, and the spatial dependence was evaluated through geostatistical modeling. The systematic sampling was suitable, with representative spatial coverage and accurate estimators, whereas linear...