Sampling strategies to provide unbiased estimates of individual tree characteristics have received increased attention in the past decade. Sampling-based estimation is appealing for many tropical species owing to the dearth of appropriately fitted models from which one can obtain an accurate prediction of these characteristics. Two methods, namely randomized branch sampling and importance sampling, are described in this paper. Their application to estimate surface (bark) area and average stem length is elucidated. Extensions to a stratified design are discussed briefly.
Key words: importance sampling, randomized branch sampling, auxiliary information.
Correspondence: Timothy G. Gregoire, College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0324, U.S.A.
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E-mail: tgg@vt.edu