| Abstract: | Relevance of the problem. Forest compartment under the conditions of intensive forestry is the main unit of management and inventory (Antanaitis, 1961; Franklin, 2001). Regular, every 10 years, standwise forest inventory requires great expenditures on compartment delineation and their depicting in cartographic material. Different executives, guided by the same standards, but without objective forest compartment delineation methodics, may divide one and the same object into compartments in different ways (Rutkauskas, Kenstavičius, 1978). Therefore, the variability of forest compartment boundaries is artificially increased. Under the absence of clear boundaries between compartments in the forest and considering that the whole forest is homogeneous, compartment characteristics are usually ascertained ignoring their peculiarities at the edges. This comprises preconditions for the appearance of systemic forest inventory deviations (Антанайтис и др., 1975; Kuliešis, Kasperavičius, 2000; Brassel, Lichke, 2001). The accuracy of cartographic material and the influence of deviations on estimation reliability of forest resources are not evaluated (Gemmell et al., 1991; Fish, 2000; Franklin, 2001). Compartment edges, occupying in the forests of the country almost one third of the whole area of stands, are important not only from inventory, but also from forest stand growing viewpoint. What are wood increment losses, or what additional increment may be obtained due to differing growth of stands on the edge of forest compartments. Productivity of trees growing at the edge is a very important factor, optimizing the size and perimeter of forest compartments. Compartment edge, the characteristics of growing in them trees and stand formation peculiarities are not sufficiently studied under the conditions of intensive forestry not only in Lithuania, but also in general (Oliver & Larson, 1996; Saladis, 1998; Deltuva, 1999). Aim and objectives of the work. The work was aimed to study the structure of forest compartments and the interdependence of changes in their edges. Seeking to achieve the aim, the following objectives had to be solved: - Estimate delineation efficiency of compartments formed during forest inventory. - Estimate homogeneity of forest compartments. - Estimate the stability of forest compartment boundaries. Scientific novelty. 1. Within stand structure edge, pre-edge and interior zones were delineated, which differ in tree growth conditions and stand yield. 2. Factors preconditioning the stability of compartment boundaries were estimated. 3. The efficiency of forest compartment boundary delineation in standwise forest inventory was estimated. |
