assessing the population status of a tree species using distance sampling aquilaria crassna (thymelaeaceae) in northern laos评估一个树种的人口状态使用距离采样aquilaria crassna在老挝北部(瑞香科).pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation International Journal of Forestry Research Volume 2012, Article ID 265831, 11 pages doi:10.1155/2012/265831 Research Article Assessing the Population Status of a Tree Species Using Distance Sampling: Aquilaria crassna (Thymelaeaceae) in Northern Laos Anders Jensen and Henrik Meilby Forest Landscape, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark Correspondence should be addressed to Anders Jensen, anderslaos@yahoo.co.uk Received 22 March 2011; Revised 30 August 2011; Accepted 2 October 2011 Academic Editor: Scott D. Roberts Copyright © 2012 A. Jensen and H. Meilby. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Lack of reliable and accurate field data affect assessments of population status of tree species, especially tropical taxa with broad distributions. Use of distance sampling techniques may help to overcome the problem. This paper describes a method for estimation of absolute density of a rare tree species with scattered and clumped distribution, using line transect distance sampling. The method was applied to previously harvested populations of Aquilaria crassna Pierre ex H. Lec. (Thymelaeaceae) at four sites in Northern Laos. This species is destructively harvested to yield agarwood, probably the world’s most valuable nontimber forest −1 product and categorised as “critically endangered”. The average density of felled A. crassna trees at the four sites was 2.2 ha , indic