Pcqm Method

floristic and Phytosociological studies are commonly used to determine the forest composition and structure, both horizontally and vertically. A wide variety of methods have been used in floristic and Phytosociological studies in order to determine forest composition and structure. study forest structural parameters such as population density, basal area, and biomass. The study of forest composition and structure requires structural parameters such as density, basal area and biomass are estimated. or the management of a forest for silvicultural purposes requires that structural parameters such as density, basal area and biomass are estimated. Some of the methods used for estimation are aerial surveys or photographs while the commonly used

In PCQM, a point is considered as a sampling unit and the area around this point is split into four 90o quarters (quadrants), and the distance of the nearest tree is measured in each quarter. In this method, the probability of individual selection sampled in each point quarter is proportional to its distance from the center of the unit. It yields quantitative data by studying trees nearest to sampling points as an estimate of numbers and distribution (a more specific methodological protocol is given in the methodology section). Based on the measurement of different variables in each quadrant (quarter) of each sampling point, various forest structure parameters can be calculated. By assuming that trees are distributed randomly, they could estimate tree density, basal area (BA), and other variables of interest. One use of the point-centered quarter method is to determine the relative importance of the various tree species in a community. The term “importance” can mean many things depending on the context. An obvious factor influencing the importance of a species to a community is the number of trees present of that