The RIRDC / LWA / FWPRDC Joint Venture Agroforestry Program

221 Pages·2009·2.6 MB·English

Estimating the Productivity of Forest Systems
An application of the 3-PG model in southeast Queensland
RIRDC Publication No. 09/052
The RIRDC / LWA / FWPRDC Joint
Venture Agroforestry Program

Estimating the
Productivity of
Forest Systems
An application of the 3-PG model
in southeast Queensland

A report for the RIRDC/L&WA/FWPRDC
Joint Venture Agroforestry Program

by Kristen J Williams, Paul Ryan, Nicholas
Coops, Randal Storey, Justin Claridge, Mike
Grundy, Joe Landsberg and Peter Sands

April 2009

RIRDC Publication No 09/052
RIRDC Project No QDN-3A
© 2009 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
All rights reserved.

ISBN 1 74151 855 5
ISSN 1440-6845

Estimating the Productivity of Forest Systems: An application of the 3-PG model in southeast
Queensland
Publication No. 09/052
Project No. QDN-3A

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Researcher Contact Details
Dr Kristen J Williams
Queensland Department of Natural Resources,
Mines and Energy
Natural Resource Sciences
80 Meiers Rd
Indooroopilly QLD 4068

Current location: CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
PO Box 780
Atherton QLD 4883
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected]

In submitting this report, the researcher has agreed to RIRDC publishing this material in its edited form.

RIRDC Contact Details
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation
Level 2, 15 National Circuit
BARTON ACT 2600
PO Box 4776
KINGSTON ACT 2604

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email: [email protected].
Web: http://www.rirdc.gov.au

Electronically published by RIRDC in April 2009
Print-on-demand by Union Offset Printing, Canberra at www.rirdc.gov.au or phone [phone]
ii
Foreword

The research presented here shows how reliable predictions of forest growth may be derived using a
simple, semi-empirical forest model 3-PG (Physiological Processes Predicting Growth). This
research aimed to calibrate the 3-PG model for a wet eucalypt species (Eucalyptus grandis), develop
best resolution spatial environmental inputs for southeast Queensland, and demonstrate model
flexibility through application to contemporary questions of land use planning relevant to forest
resource sustainability, productivity and inventory.

The 3-PG model is a simple forest model used to predict growth and development of even-aged tree
stands. It was developed in a deliberate attempt to bridge the gap between detailed growth-yield and
carbon balance models. The model has been widely applied in forest research in Australia, South
Africa, Europe, North America and New Zealand. While the utility of 3-PG has been demonstrated
through research, its application to support contemporary landscape planning decisions about forest
resource use and sustainability remains unproven. This research addresses this knowledge gap.

This report documents the technical steps used to compile spatial input data and calibrate 3-PG
parameters using available growth and site data. It demonstrates model application to contemporary
questions, such as resource availability for hardwood plantations, catchment level forest-hydrological
interactions, and climate change impacts on native forest productivity in southeast Queensland.

The 3-PG parameters developed for Eucalyptus grandis are widely applicable to any region where
plantations of wet forest species are of interest. The results are indicative of the types of outputs that
could be generated in any region where suitable data are available for calibration and prediction. An
integrated spatial modelling platform, once established, can be flexibly applied to a wide range of
contemporary questions with respect to assessing environmental risks associated with climate and
land use change. This is within the capacity of governments and research organisations but requires
sustained investment and close alignment with the needs of policy, planning and management in both
industry and government.

This project was funded by the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program (JVAP), which is supported by
three R&D Corporations - Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), Land
& Water Australia (L&WA), and Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation
(FWPRDC)1. The Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) also contributed to this project. The
R&D Corporations are funded principally by the Australian Government. State and Australian
Governments contribute funds to the MDBC.

This report is an addition to RIRDC’s diverse range of over 1800 research publications. It forms part
of our Agroforestry and Farm Forestry R&D program, which aims to integrate sustainable and
productive agroforestry within Australian farming systems. The JVAP, under this program, is
managed by RIRDC.

Most of our publications are available for viewing, downloading or purchasing online through our
website www.rirdc.gov.au

Peter O’Brien
Managing Director
Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation

1 Now Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA).
iii
Acknowledgments

This work represents a partnership between the Queensland Departments of Natural Resources &
Mines and Primary Industries. The research and technology underpinnings were supported through
collaboration with retired scientist Dr Joe Landsberg, together with Dr Nicholas Coops and Dr Peter
Sands at CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products.

The work presented here was principally managed by Dr Kristen Williams2 and Paul Ryan3. The
Queensland Department of Natural Resources & Mines coordinated project activities, managed the
spatial data requirements, and implemented the working model platform. The Department of Primary
Industry’s Queensland Forestry Research Institute4 managed the preparation of plantation site data
used to parameterise 3-PG and participated in spatial model development and evaluation.

CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products through Dr Nicholas Coops5 managed the completion of case
studies presented in Chapters 6, 7, and 8; advised the project through all stages and supervised the
use and reporting on PHROG for the Kingaroy catchment study.

Paul Ryan, with assistance from Susan House, prepared the plantation growth and site data, with
additional biomass sampling undertaken by Mark Hunt and K. Murray.

Randal Storey established and managed the spatial modelling platform for 3-PG, including primary
data creation, cartographic presentation, and information management.

Justin Claridge and Mike Grundy managed the soil/landscape modelling work and the application of
PHROG for the Kingaroy catchment study. Randal Storey and Donna Smith supported the spatial
data requirements.

Doug Ward assisted with primary data creation and some trouble-shooting of early working versions
of 3-PG and PEST.

In particular, the authors would like to thank Dr Joe Landsberg for his openness and generosity in
making the 3-PG software readily available for scientific critique and further development: leading to
the versions in Excel (Sands 2001), C++ (Loughhead and Coops 2000) and VB (J. Morris, Centre for
Forest Tree technology, Heidelberg http://www.cftt.vic.gov.au/). Furthermore, we would like to
thank Joe for freely providing advice and discussion on the application of 3-PG in Queensland,
including input on project directions, identifying key areas for research and leading discussion at two
forums on the model held in Brisbane as part of this project (February 1999, February 2000). The
contributed discussion and presentations by forest scientists and resource managers attending these
forums is gratefully acknowledged also. Some of these have been captured in the forum proceedings,
or are available in the literature on 3-PG (listed in the 3-PG Newsletter January 2002, compiled and
distributed by Dr Joe Landsberg, now available at http://www.ffp.csiro.au/fap/3pg/index.htm).

The work presented in this report is largely based on the 3-PG software in C++ code (Version 1.5,
June 2000 written by Andrew Loughhead and Nicholas Coops, CSIRO Forestry and Forest
Products). We are grateful to Nicholas Coops for his untiring enthusiasm in following this project
through to completion, for kindly providing access to the C++ software, eliciting feedback and
continuing 3-PG software development, and throughout, fostering and maintaining the spirit of
scientific openness and generosity. This work would otherwise have not been possible.

2 Now at CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, PO Box 780, Atherton QLD 4883
3 Now retired, 32 Beenham Valley Road, Cedar Pocket QLD 4570
4 Now at Horticulture and Forestry Science (within the Delivery Business Group of the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
Queensland).
5 Now at Forestry Faculty, University of British Columbia, Forest Sciences Centre 2301 Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada
([email protected])
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We would also like to acknowledge the use of an earlier version of the software in ARC/INFO™ (3-
PG-SPATIAL) developed by the Bureau of Rural Sciences in collaboration with CSIRO Forestry and
Forest Products. In particular thanks to Phil Tickle, Susan Hafner, Antti Roppola and Rod Keenan for
their efforts in supporting the early phases of this project, training Queensland staff in the use of their
software, presenting their work at the first 3-PG forum in Brisbane (1999) and contributing to the
scope and direction of this project.

We are indebted to Dr Peter Sands, who provided critique and support for the application of 3-PG in
Queensland, and developed an improved version of the model in Excel/VB code. In particular, we are
grateful to Peter for leading a critical evaluation of PEST software as a tool to assist parameter
development in 3-PG, and for suggesting a strategy for building 3-PG parameter sets. Thanks also to
Dr John Doherty who supported this application and, with input from Dr Peter Sands, included
forestry case studies in his coursework for PEST software training held in Brisbane as part of this
project (July 2000). The presentations on PEST and 3-PG calibration prepared by Peter Sands and
John Doherty were included in the forum proceedings of the 3-PG workshop held in February 2000.

We are grateful to the Queensland Department of Natural Resources & Mines for additional support
through Research Development and Extension Grant, DNRS9840 Rapid derivation of soil attributes
for forest modelling. The project staff would also like to thank Robin Thwaites6 (University of
Queensland) and Len Cranfield (Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Geological Survey)
for their inputs.

We are also grateful to Dr Mike Bell of the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
Queensland, Farming Systems Institute who supported this project through the grant PROMIS 2894
The use of modelling tools to investigate catchment water balance and eucalypt plantations in the
Burnett. This pilot application was made possible through Nicholas Coops and John Gallant who
supported the testing of PHROG as part of this project (QDN3A). Cropping simulation data (using
the APSIM model) were kindly supplied by Dr Mike Robertson of CSIRO/APSRU.

We would like to express our gratitude to Alan Beswick, Keith Moodie and Stephen Jeffries who
managed the climate database and interpolations available through the Data Drill
(http://www.nrm.qld.gov.au/silo/index.html), Climate Impacts and Natural Resources Systems,
Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines. We especially acknowledge their support
and service in providing climate data in 3-PG software-ready format that can be directly pasted into
input site files used by the C++ model.

Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the IT and IM professionals and support staff who
adapted to the evolving needs of the spatial modelling platform:
• Garry Russell for his dedication in providing technical support and administration of the
UNIX computer systems;
• Lindsay Breber for his assistance with backups on the Cray Supercomputer and in
programming/compiling Cray-versions of TAPES-G software;
• Scott Brazier for his responsiveness and support on matters relating to management and
administration of PC computers and local area networks; and
• Lindsay Redlich and Amanda Goschnick for their support and advice on issues related to
information management, data coordination, intellectual property and copyright.

Kristen acknowledges the generosity of employers in the Queensland Environmental Protection
Agency who allowed periods of leave for the report writing, and CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
who supported its completion.

6 Now at School of Natural Resource Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
v
Abbreviations

3-PG Physiological Processes Predicting Growth, a forest process model developed
by Landsberg & Waring (1997. A generalised model of forest productivity
using simplified concepts of radiation use efficiency, carbon balance and
partitioning. Forest Ecology and Management, 95: 209 –228).
3-PGS A version of 3-PG driven by satellite observations developed by Dr Nicholas
Coops and extensively tested in Australia and the USA (see Coops, N.C.,
Waring, R.H. and Landsberg, J.J. 1998. Assessing forest productivity in
Australia and New Zealand using a physiologically-based model driven with
averaged monthly weather data and satellite derived estimates of canopy
photosynthetic capacity. Forest Ecology and Management 104:113-127.
Coops, N.C., Waring, R.H., and Landsberg, J.J. 1998. The Development of a
physiological model (3-PGS) to predict forest productivity using satellite data.
In Forest Scenario Modelling for Ecosystem Management at Landscape Level.
Eds: Nabuurs, G., Nuutinen, T., Bartelink, H. and Korhonen, M. EFI
Proceedings No. 19. pp. 173-191)
3-PG-SPATIAL An early software version of 3-PG in ARC/INFO™ developed by the Bureau
of Rural Sciences in collaboration with CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products
and applied to the Bago State Forest in New South Wales (Tickle, P.K.,
Coops, N.C., and Hafner, S.D. and The Bago Science Team, 2001. Assessing
forest productivity at local scales across a native eucalypt forest using a
process model, 3-PG-SPATIAL. Forest Ecology and Management 152: 275-
291).
ANUCLIM Climate interpolation software package comprising ESOCLIM, BIOCLIM and
GROCLIM developed and marketed by Centre for Resource and
Environmental Studies (CRES), Australian National University
(http://cres.anu.edu.au/outputs/anuclim.html).
ANUDEM Digital elevation modelling software program developed by M. F. Hutchinson
(http://cres.anu.edu.au/outputs/anudem.html) over the last twenty years, with
application to the generation of hydrologically sound DEMs from local to
regional and continental scales.
APSIM (Agricultural Production Systems simulator) a cropping system model run in
point mode on a daily time-step developed by McCown, R.L., Hammer, G.L.,
Hargreaves, J.N.G., Holzwoth, D.P. and Freebairn, D.M. (1995. APSIM: A
novel software system for model development, model testing, and simulation
in agricultural systems research. Agricultural Systems 48: 1-17).
ARC/INFO Industry Standard Geographic Information Systems Software developed by
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) for workstations
(http://www.esri.com/)
BA Basal Area
CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
CSIRO-FFP Forestry and Forest Products, a Division of Commonwealth Scientific and
Industrial Research Organisation
DBH Diameter at Breast Height (1.3 metres) measured in centimetres
DEM Digital Elevation Model (a special type of DTM – Digital Terrain Model –
with elevation as the terrain attribute)
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DNR or NR&M Queensland Department of Natural Resources (Queensland Department of
Natural Resources and Mines, since February 2001 incorporating the
Department of Mines and Energy; the group responsible for project QDN3A,
under DNR Forest Management business unit, was transferred to
Environmental Protection Agency)
DPIF Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (incorporating
DPI-Forestry and QFRI)
ESOCLIM see above for ANUCLIM. ESOCLIM estimates 16 long-term monthly climatic
averages (e.g. maximum and minimum temperature, rainfall, evaporation,
raindays, morning and afternoon dew point temperatures, morning and
afternoon wet bulb and dry bulb temperatures, flat-surface and rainfall
modified solar radiation, morning and afternoon wind speed, and wind run).
GRASP (GRASs Production) is a deterministic, point-based model of soil-water, grass
growth and animal production (sheep and cattle), developed and validated on
tropical grasslands by Day, K.A., McKeon, G.M. and Carter, J.O. (1997.
Evaluating the risks of pasture and land degradation in native pastures in
Queensland—Final Report DAQ-124A. Climate Impacts and Applications,
DNR, Indooroopilly).
LAI Leaf Area Index
NDVI Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (derived from satellite remote
sensing of vegetation cover)
NR&M Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines (since February
2001, incorporating the Department of Mines and Energy).
PAR Photosynthetically Active Radiation
PHROG A simple distributed hydrology sub-model for use with physiological
modelling, developed by Nicholas Coops and John Gallant (Coops, N. C. and
Gallant, J. (2001). Development of PHROG, a simple distributed hydrology
sub-model for use with physiological modelling. Canadian Journal of Forest
Research, submitted).
QFRI Queensland Forest Research Institute (now Horticulture and Forestry Science
in the Delivery Business Unit of the Department of Primary Industries and
Fisheries, Queensland)
SEQ Southeast Queensland (in this report, a study area defined by the extent of a
25m DEM)
SRAD Software package for estimating solar radiation, see TAPES-G WEB site
(software downloads http://cres.anu.edu.au/outputs/tapes.html)
TAPES-G Software package for terrain analysis of environmental variables, see WEB
site at (software downloads http://cres.anu.edu.au/outputs/tapes.html)
VPD Vapour Pressure Deficit

vii
Contents
Foreword...............................................................................................................................................iii
Acknowledgments.................................................................................................................................iv
Abbreviations........................................................................................................................................vi
Executive Summary..............................................................................................................................x
PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND STRUCTURE OF THIS REPORT...........................................1
Chapter 1: Introduction, Objectives and Structure of this Report...................................................2
PART 2: ESTABLISHING THE MODELLING PLATFORM.....................................................6
Chapter 2: Developing Parameters for 3-PG.....................................................................................7
Background.........................................................................................................................................................7
The 3-PG Forest Model......................................................................................................................................7
Plantation Growth and Site Data......................................................................................................................11
Developing Parameters for 3-PG......................................................................................................................19
Conclusions......................................................................................................................................................27
Preface to Chapter 3.........................................................................................................................................28
Chapter 3: Spatial Data for 3-PG (Terrain, Climate and Soils).....................................................29
Background.......................................................................................................................................................29
Study Area........................................................................................................................................................29
Spatial Data for 3-PG: Water, Temperature, Nutrients and Light....................................................................30
Substrate Surfaces............................................................................................................................................41
Creating and managing the spatial data inputs for the forest model 3-PG (terrain, climate and soils).............51
Rapid Derivation of Soil Attributes for Forest Modelling................................................................................51
Conclusions......................................................................................................................................................70
PART 3: APPLICATIONS................................................................................................................72
Chapter 4: Broad Scale Estimation of Relative Forest Productivity in Southeast Queensland...73
Background.......................................................................................................................................................73
Study Area and Spatial Data Inputs..................................................................................................................73
3-PG Scenarios.................................................................................................................................................74
Results..............................................................................................................................................................76
Discussion.........................................................................................................................................................80
Conclusions......................................................................................................................................................81
Chapter 5: Investigating the Effect of Forest Cover on Sub-surface Water Movement Using a
Simplified Distributed Hydrological Model......................................................................................83
Background.......................................................................................................................................................83
Introduction......................................................................................................................................................83
PHROG Model and Data Requirements...........................................................................................................84
Study Area........................................................................................................................................................86
Input Data.........................................................................................................................................................87
3-PG Scenarios for Plantation and Mature Native Forest.................................................................................89
Description of PHROG Modelling Approaches...............................................................................................92
Results..............................................................................................................................................................93
Discussion.........................................................................................................................................................99
Conclusions....................................................................................................................................................101
Chapter 6: Effect of Scaling and High Spatial Resolution Input Grids on 3-PG Outputs.........102
Background.....................................................................................................................................................102
Study Area and Datasets.................................................................................................................................103
Results and Discussion...................................................................................................................................105
Conclusions....................................................................................................................................................110
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