Probabilistic sampling and estimation for large-scale assessment of poplar plantations in Northern Italy
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Probabilistic sampling and estimation for large‑scale assessment of poplar plantations in Northern Italy Piermaria Corona1,2 · Francesco Chianucci1 · Agnese Marcelli2,3 · Damiano Gianelle3 · Lorenzo Fattorini4 · Mirko Grotti1,5 · Nicola Puletti1 · Walter Mattioli1,2 Received: 10 June 2019 / Revised: 6 March 2020 / Accepted: 10 June 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract In the recent decades, growing demand for wood products, combined with efforts to conserve natural forests, has supported a steady increase in the global extent of planted forests. In this paper, a two-phase sampling strategy for large-scale assessment of hybrid poplar plantations in Northern Italy was implemented. The first phase was performed by means of tessellation stratified sampling on high-resolution remotely sensed imagery, covering the survey area by a grid of regular polygons of equal size and randomly and independently selecting one point per quadrat. All the plantations spotted by at least one sample point were selected. In the second phase, we randomly chosen a subset of plantations by stratified sampling that were visited on the ground to collect qualitative and quantitative attributes. The resulting estimates were reliable, and the survey demonstrated relatively easy to be implemented and replicated. These considerations support the use of the proposed sampling strategy to frequently update information on fast-growing forest plantations within agricultural farms, like hybrid poplar crops. Moreover, the results of the case study here presented highlight the relevance of hybrid poplar plantations in Italy, in the context of sustainable development strategies under a green economy perspective. Keywords Forest inventory · Two-phase sampling · Tessellation stratified sampling · Populus spp. · Hybrid poplar
Introduction Growing demand for wood products, combined with efforts to conserve natural forests, has supported a 65% increase in the global extent of planted forests since 1990 (FAO 2015). Communicated by Arne Nothdurft. * Walter Mattioli [email protected]; [email protected] 1
CREA, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, V.le S. Margherita 80, I‑52100 Arezzo, Italy
2
Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro‑food and Forest Systems (DIBAF), University of Tuscia, Via San Camillo de Lellis s.n.c, I‑01100 Viterbo, Italy
3
Sustainable Agro‑Ecosystems and Bioresources Department, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Via Edmund Mach, 1, I‑38010 San Michele all’Adige, TN, Italy
4
Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Siena, Piazza San Francesco, 8, I‑53100 Siena, Italy
5
Department of Architecture and Design, University of Rome La Sapienza, Piazza Borghese, 9, I‑00196 Rome, Italy
As concerns Europe, in recent decades forest plantations for wood production have been supported by structural funds of European Commission (EC), to enhance the valorization of farmland: the main objectives are linked to the production
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