2019 Southern Mensurationists Conference

Agenda
Start Date: September 15, 2019
Location: Asheville, NC

2019 SOMENS Onsite book (pdf)

Sunday, September 15

4:00pm-6:00pm – Registration at Hilton Garden Inn lobby

Monday, September 16

8:00am   Coffee and pastries
8:15am   Introductions and Welcome

Growth modeling – Moderator: C. Green
8:30amEstimating Parameters of the Weibull Function to Characterize Diameter DistributionsQuang Cao, Louisiana State University
8:50amGrowth and yield models for hardwood and natural pines in the US South from 1920 to 2018Anil Koirala, University of Georgia
9:10amModeling basal area growth after thinning – an alternative approach – Mauricio Zapata, University of Georgia
9:30am   Coffee Break

Industrial application of biometrics – Moderator: C. Montes
10:00amCaveat emptor – How a forest analyst can help make informed decisionsDonald Gagliasso, MB&G
10:20amIt’s time for standards in forest inventoryZack Parisa, SilviaTerra
10:40amIntegration of inventory, growth and yield, data management, and harvest planning in the Southeast US: Methods, Models, and ApplicationsNate Herring, American Forest Management
11:00amApplications of a sampling simulatorHenry Rodman, SilviaTerra
11:20amSmall area estimation in support of operational loblolly pine forest inventoryCorey Green, Virginia Tech
11:40amAn industrial remote sensed inventory system – gaps and needsJim McCarter, Rayonier
12:00pm   Lunch at the Pillar Room

Taper, weight and wood science – Moderator: S. Patton
1:00pmModeling stem properties for eucalyptus in New ZealandDan Boczniewicz, University of Canterbury
1:20pmRobustness of taper equations with alternative definitions of validation dataSheng-I Yang, Virginia Tech
1:40pmA stem volume-ratio, biomass conversion & expansion factor approach to generating national-scale inventory estimatesPhil Radtke, Virginia Tech
2:00pmModeling taper of longleaf pineBronson Bullock, University of Georgia
2:200pmEstimating height from multiple diametersMark Porter, University of Georgia
2:40pm   Coffee Break

Growth modeling – Moderator: C. Clark
3:10pmLong-term dynamics of loblolly pine crown structuresDahai Zhao, University of Georgia
3:30pmModeling height growth for teak plantations in ColombiaSergio Orrego, Universidad Nacional de Colombia
3:50pm   SStand survival projection as a function of age versus dominant heightMingliang Wang, University of Georgia
4:10pm   Poster session in hotel lobby
6:00pm-8:00pm   Banquet at Pack Tavern’s Century Room

Tuesday, September 17

8:00am   Recap from Monday – Holly Munro

Theoretical and philosophical topics – B. Bullock
8:10amA comparison of error distributions for estimation of stand survivalMike Strub, Independent researcher
8:30amThoughts on model selectionHarold Burkhart, Virginia Tech
8:50amThe Sample Design: A Model or a Rule (that will be Broken)Frank Roesch, US Forest Service
9:10amLinear feature in primeval forest as indications of anthropogenic heritageChris Cieszewski, University of Georgia
9:30am   Coffee Break

Ecophysiological applications – Moderator: J. McCarter
9:50amDevelopment of ecophysiological tools for managing Arauco plantationsJuan Quiroga, Arauco Holding
10:10amTemperature Thresholds for Growing Eucalyptus in South AmericaTúlio Queiroz, São Paulo State University
10:30amTemperature-based model for predicting pine beetle numbersHolly Munro, University of Georgia
10:50amModeling dominant height as a function of leaf areaStephen Kinane, University of Georgia
11:10amEstimation of Eucalyptus stands productivity using efficient Artificial Neural NetworkRicardo Neto, Federal University of Viçosa
11:30amTwo- and three-stage least squares for biomass estimationTom Lynch, Oklahoma State University
12:00pm   Lunch at the Pillar Room
1:00pm   Speaker awards ceremony – Moderator: S. Patton
1:30pm   The Mike Stub Challenge – Moderator: M. Strub
1:45pm   Final remarks – Moderator: N. Osborne
2:00pm   Business Meeting – Moderator: B. Bullock
3:00pm   Adjourn

For additional information or questions, please contact the conference organizers:

Nate Osborne
Biometrics Project Leader, Rayonier

Bronson Bullock
Professor of Forest Biometrics and Quantitative Timber Management

Cristian Montes
Associate Professor of Natural Resource Biometrics
About the Conference
The conference will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn Asheville Downtown (Hilton Garden Inn) from Sunday, September 15 – Tuesday, September 17, 2019.

Mike Strub Challenge
Camp Daniel Boone Lake, less than 30 miles from Asheville NC as bird flies, satisfies the thirst of many elks and whitetail deer. Let's assume that there are no elks and deer drinking from the lake in the winter because it is frozen. Let's also assume that, after the ice on the lake melts, the elks and the whitetail deer arrive as independent Poisson processes, labeled E and D, with the intensities epsilon and delta, respectively. You are asked to find the probability of 1) an elk coming first to the lake, after the ice melts, and 2) exactly r whitetail deer will arrive between two consecutive elks arrivals.

Evaluation criteria (in order of importance):
  1. Correctness - the solution should be correct
  2. Completeness – the solution should contains all the necessary elements, namely definitions, assumptions, and theorems/lemmas used
  3. Simplicity – the solution should be short
Please email your answer to SOMENS organizer, Dr. Nate Osborne or to Awards coordinator, Dr. Strimbu

SOMENS Achievement Award
"SOMENS Achievement Award" honors scientists that contributed significantly to quantitative southern forestry. The award aims at senior researchers that are associated with the Southern Mensurationists group and have shaped the forest research of/from the southern region of the USA. The award is given only once to an individual. Please cast your vote by clicking here.