Site tree refers to a type of tree used in

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

, which is used to classify the quality of growing conditions trees at a particular forest location. A site tree, is a single

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

in a stand (group of growing trees) that gives a good representation of the average dominant or co-dominant tree in the stand. Site trees are used to calculate the site index of the site in reference to a particular tree species. A site tree should belong to the dominant or co-dominant

overstory In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns. In forest ecology, the canopy is the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and includ ...

class. The total height of the tree and age measured at

Diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ...

of a sample of site trees will be used to determine a site index, which will show how tall trees of different species can grow on that site in a set amount of time. Sometimes several years are added to the breast-height age to account for time grown below . Determining what a site tree should look like in a stand varies with what kind of stand one is standing in. The simplest stand to find a site tree in is an even aged stand of a single

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, much like a forest plantation. In this stand almost any dominant or co-dominant tree can be used. Finding a site tree is more difficult in uneven-aged, mixed species, stands. There are multiple assumptions that are made when a site tree is chosen. Each site tree is assumed to have been a dominant or co-dominant individual its entire life. The site tree is assumed to have never been broken, injured, or suppressed. If the tree had any of these things happen to it the site index, which is derived from the site tree, value will be skewed. Site trees are chosen by what species is being grown in a particular forest. Different trees on the same site will produce different measurements of a site index. For example, a yellow-poplar (''

Liriodendron tulipifera ''Liriodendron tulipifera''—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, lynn-tree, hickory-poplar, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus ...

'') growing on the same site as a white oak (''

Quercus alba ''Quercus alba'', the white oak, is one of the preeminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and southern Maine south as ...

'')Quercus alba Fact Sheet
will grow at a different rate over the same amount of time. Graphs have been made that allow the user to measure a site tree of specific species and then use that measurement to predict what the measurements of a site tree of another species would be on the same site. This allows the user to predict how one species would grow on a site if that species was planted on the site. This is especially useful for

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

production, harvest operations, or any other forestry

silvicultural Silviculture is the practice of controlling the growth, composition/structure, as well as quality of forests to meet values and needs, specifically timber production. The name comes from the Latin ('forest') and ('growing'). The study of forests ...

management that has specific species regeneration as a goal of the management plan.

References

{{Forestry Forest modelling

See also

References