Stem profile of red oaks in a bottomland hardwood restoration plantation forest in the Arkansas Delta (USA)

Bottomland hardwoods are among the most diverse and productive forest ecosystems in southeastern United States critically important for provision of timber non-timber ecosystem services. Red oaks, dominant species this group forests, high ecological economic value. Stem profile models essential accurately estimating merchantable volume oak trees, which is also closely indicative total tree biomass other services given their allometric relationships. This study aims to develop compare stem profiles three red an 18-year old plantation using destructive sampling. Sixty trees randomly selected from restoration Arkansas Delta were felled measuring diameter-outside-bark (DOB) diameter-inside-bark (DIB) at different heights. These sample composed twenty each species: cherry bark (CBO - Quercus pagoda Raf), Nuttall (NUT texana Buckley), Shumard (SHU shumardii Buckl). Multiple models, including segmented-profile model, form-class second-and third-order polynomial fitted compared. Results demonstrate that model was best CBO NUT, whereas SHU. tends grow taller has a higher wood density than NUT findings will inform management decisions bottomland hardwood especially oaks region.