Determinación de una función de ahusamiento para el cálculo volumen en plantaciones de Pinus radiata pertenecientes a la empresa Aglomerados Cotopaxi S.A., cantón Latacunga, provincia de Cotopaxi.

Abstract

The present information proposes: to model the tapering of Pinus radiata in plantations belonging to the company Aglomerados Cotopaxi S.A, located in Latacunga canton, Cotopaxi province; the term tapering is defined as the change in diameter as the tree height increases from the stump. In order to describe this variation and quantify the sections of standing trees shaft, mathematical functions have been used, which constitute a flexible statistical tool to process data and determine wood stocks and timber products. The sample corresponds to 40 individuals of different ages of the Pinus radiata species; 4 compatible taper-volume functions were tested in the prediction of stem diameters and commercial volumes, whose adjustments were by linear and non-linear regression. The evaluation and selection of the most appropriate functions was based on fitting goodness statistical indicators, in addition to a graphical analysis. Given the predictive capacity shown by the "TapeR" function, this proved to be the most appropriate to describe the shaft profile and determine the distribution of timber products at a desired height and tip diameter. The function that presented the best results when estimating the trees volume, obtaining in the coefficient of determination R2 almost the value of 100%%, presenting the best fit. While all three functions have demonstrated proper, "TapeR" 2 minimizes errors, which is also reflected on the root of the mean square error, where the function with the lowest value is adequate to the "TapeR 2" function.