An evaluation of numerical integration of taper functions for volume estimation in Eucalyptus saligna stands

An evaluation of numerical integration of taper functions for volume estiamtion in Eucalyptus saligna stands. Results obtained in this study show that numerical integration of variable-form taper functions constructed for Eucalyptus saligna can give volume estimates of comparable accuracy to those provided by volume-ratio equations for the same species. However, caution should be exercised when using taper functions to estimate tree volumes as some may be biased. A numerical integration routine, based on Romberg integration, was written in QuickBasic for numerical integration of the taper functions. The program can be modified and adapted to other non-integrable taper functions for other species. The routine should be useful to those who do not have easy access to standard numerical analysis packages.