Prism sweeps for coarse woody debris

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Abstract
A new method for sampling coarse woody debris (CWD) is presented, based on relascope sampling of CWD midpoint diameter. In this method, CWD is included in a sample if the angle subtended by the midpoint diameter viewed from plot center is greater than the critical relascope angle. The method is therefore referred to as diameter relascope sampling (DRS). Other methods for sampling CWD are reviewed and compared with DRS using sampling simulations and statistical power calculations. These are fixed area sampling, line intercept sampling, and point rela scope sampling. DRS is shown to be have greater statistical power per unit sampling effort than other methods when CWD diameter and length are linearly or allometrically related, but results can vary with the diameter-length relationship employed. The relative benefits of different methods for sampling CWD are discussed.