Understory plants are important components of forest ecosystem productivity and diversity. Compared to biomass models of overstory canopy trees, few are available for understory saplings and shrubs and therefore their roles in estimation of forest carbon pools are often ignored. In this study, we harvested 24 understory species including 4 saplings, 9 tree-like shrubs and 11 typical shrubs in c...

BACKGROUND The resistance form is a key factor for a successful crown fabrication. This in vitro study evaluates the effects of proximal grooves and abutment height on the resistance of single cast crowns in molars with inadequate resistance. METHODS Sixty extracted human molars were prepared to possess 20° of total occlusal convergence for single crown fabrication. All of the prepared teeth ...

Phenotyping morphological traits of blueberry bushes in the field is important for selecting genotypes that are easily harvested by mechanical harvesters. Morphological data can also be used to assess the effects of crop treatments such as plant growth regulators, fertilizers, and environmental conditions. This paper investigates the feasibility and accuracy of an inexpensive unmanned aerial sy...

The currently prevailing view is that saplings require gaps or larger disturbances in order to grow into the canopy. This study documents an exception. In California's Pseudotsuga-mixed hardwood forests, crowns of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir) are within those of angiosperm trees (Arbutus menziesii and Quercus species). In the forests we examined, every Pseudotsuga was younger and all but...

Quantification of biophysical parameters of urban trees is important for urban planning, and for assessing carbon sequestration and ecosystem services. Airborne lidar has been used extensively in recent years to estimate biophysical parameters of trees in forested ecosystems. However, similar studies are largely lacking for individual trees in urban landscapes. Prediction models to estimate bio...

Forest structural parameters, such as tree height and crown width, are indispensable for evaluating forest biomass or forest volume. LiDAR is a revolutionary technology for measurement of forest structural parameters, however, the accuracy of crown width extraction is not satisfactory when using a low density LiDAR, especially in high canopy cover forest. We used high resolution aerial imagery ...