A generalized growth and yield software shell is currently under development by the Loblolly Pine Growth and Yield Research Cooperative at Virginia Tech. Designed as a Windows application, the shell will be useful for a variety of purposes including assessing alternative management practices, inventory updating, and investigating various types of growth and yield relationships. A spreadsheet controller forms the basis of the shell. Rows of the spreadsheet represent stands (or, if a user operates at a tree-level, rows would represent trees) and columns represent variables passed into and out of growth and yield models. Users can access growth and yield models by selecting them from a library. Models can be added to or deleted from the libraries and the number, type and names of variables are completely flexible. Thus, users can insert their own existing growth and yield models as either C or FORTRAN dynamic linked libraries into the shell for implementation.
Key words: growth and yield model, software.
Correspondence: Harold E. Burkhart, Department of Forestry, Virginia tech, Blacksburg VA 24061, USA