Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 128 (2005) 123–129

www.elsevier.com/locate/agrformet

Short communication

Simplified tree crown model using standard forest

mensuration data for Scots pine
Miina Rautiainen*, Pauline Stenberg
Department of Forest Ecology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 27, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Received 27 May 2004; received in revised form 17 August 2004; accepted 17 September 2004

Abstract

Crown profiles of 260 Scots pines in central Finland were measured using a new method developed in the study, and a simple
model for crown shape, belonging to the Lamé curve family, was derived using these data. Relatively accurate estimates of the
crown maximum radius and its height, parameters needed for application of the model, were obtained using breast height
diameter (dbh) and tree height. Results suggest that the model could potentially be used to generate the crown shape directly
from routine stand data.
# 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Pinus sylvestris L.; Crown shape; LAI; Grouping; Radiative transfer

1. Introduction has traditionally been a widely studied topic, however,

The grouped structure of a forest canopy can be
characterised at several levels, for instance as between
crowns grouping (depicted by crown shape and tree
distribution pattern) and within crowns grouping
(depicted by shoots and their distribution). Character-
ising the grouping of vegetation between crowns
requires a mathematical description of crown shape.
Crown shape, as determined by species characteristic
branching pattern (branch angles and ratios of
sequential mother to daughter branch unit lengths),
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +358 9 19158156;
fax: +358 9 19158100.
E-mail address: miina.rautiainen@helsinki.fi (M. Rautiainen).
the interest has focused more on studying the
theoretical relation between tree architecture and
adaptive strategies (e.g. for optimising light intercep-
tion and photosynthetic production) than on model
designed empirical measurements (Honda, 1971;
Horn, 1971; Cannell, 1974; Honda and Fisher,
1978). Measured data on the various variables needed
for a geometrical representation of the crown envelope
are scattered and we still do not have a simple-to-apply
mathematical shape to represent the crown envelope
of many key forest tree species. This means that either
quick-look visual judgment or common assumptions
dominate when input shapes for tree crowns are
selected for use in, for example, radiative transfer
models which typically require information on the

0168-1923/$ – see front matter # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2004.09.002
124 M. Rautiainen, P. Stenberg / Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 128 (2005) 123–129
grouped structure of forest canopies (e.g. Li and
Strahler, 1985; Oker-Blom, 1986; Chen and Leblanc,
1997; Gerard and North, 1997; Nilson, 1999; Kuusk
and Nilson, 2000).
The motivation for the present study was our
specific interest in the estimation of leaf area index
(LAI) in the boreal coniferous zone from both optical
satellite data and as a ground truth variable determined
from canopy gap fraction measurements. A target
species has been Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.),
which is the dominant tree species in Finland. In both
remote sensing and canopy radiation studies, it is
important to be able to define a basic mathematical
shape, which the crown occupies and to calculate the
canopy volume, i.e. an approximation for the space
taken up by the foliage. For example in the forest
reflectance model developed by Kuusk and Nilson
(2000), crown shape is important in three aspects: to
determine the limits of integration over the whole
crown envelope, to determine the crown projection
areas on a horizontal plane and to calculate crown
volume. It has previously been noted in simulation
studies (Rautiainen et al., 2004) that crown shape has a
considerable effect on the reflectance of a coniferous
stand in the visible and near infra-red wavelengths,
which are commonly used for LAI estimation by
remote sensing. If reflectance model inversion is used
for LAI estimation, it is also crucial to understand the
effect crown shape might have on the ground truth LAI
estimate obtained through gap fraction inversion (from,
for example, the data provided by the LAI-2000 Plant
Canopy Analyzer instrument), as the ground truth
estimate is used in the calibration and development
phase of the reflectance models.
In this study, the focus is on describing for Scots
pine in Finland the crown level grouping, which is
represented by crown shape and has potential
consequences in LAI estimation. There is plenty of
empirical data available on crown structure and
allometric relationships of Scots pine in Finland
(e.g. Ross et al., 1986; Kuuluvainen et al., 1988; Oker-
Blom et al., 1988; Hakkila, 1991; Berninger and
Nikinmaa, 1994; Stenberg et al., 1994; Hynynen et al.,
2002), however, systematic measurements with the
aim of parameterisation of some predefined crown
shape model are scarce. In models requiring crown
shape, the shape has seldom been based on measure-
ments. Such an approach is justified in theory
development or simulation studies where the interest
is often in sensitivity analysis or discovering
differences in responses to extremes of the changed
variable other than crown shape. However, when
attempts towards application or empirical sensitivity
analysis with real world data are made, it is important
to have empirical (measurement-based) justification
for the crown shape that is used.
In this paper, we present a new, operational method
to measure the crown profile of forest trees, and derive
a basic crown shape for Scots pine obtained from
crown profile measurements carried out in central
Finland.
2. Material and methods
We measured the crown profile of 260 trees in order
to determine an estimate of crown shape of Scots pines
and to derive regressions for the maximum crown
radius and its height in the study area. The breast
height diameter (dbh) of the measured trees ranged
from 6.1 to 39.2 cm, in such a way that 20 trees were
measured in each 2 cm diameter class, the classes
being 6–8, 8–10, 10–12, . . ., 28–30 cm and one class
for 30 cm < dbh < 40 cm (i.e. a total of 13 classes).
The trees were chosen from 5.64 m wide transects
(ranging from 100 to 500 m long) located on flat land
in the proximity of the Suonenjoki research station
(628390 N, 278050 E) of the Finnish Forest Research
Institute. For practical equipment reasons, the width of
the transect (5.64 m) was the same as the radius of the
circle needed for covering the 100 m2 area used for
determining stand density around each measured tree.
The minimum distance between sampled trees was
12 m. When a diameter class was full, remaining trees
belonging to the class were ignored on the transect.
For each tree crown, the locations of eight points
along the profile line were measured, with the height
and the crown radius at each point recorded (Fig. 1).
The first point measured was the base of the live crown
and the last the crown top (i.e. tree height). The crown
base was defined as the lowest branch above which
there were at least two consecutive living branches.
The points were placed on the crown profile as evenly
as visual judgment in the conditions allowed and, also,
to trace the main ‘turns’ in the crown profile curve.
Each crown was measured from one cardinal direction
 M. Rautiainen, P. Stenberg / Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 128 (2005) 123–129
Fig. 1. The principle of the crown profile measurements. h is height
above ground, r is radius at height i.
(N, E, S, or W) and, in order to minimise possible
‘direction effects’, the direction changed for every tree
so that every fourth tree was measured from the same
direction.
In practice, the crown dimensions were measured
as follows. The distance of the person making the
measurements from the tree at breast height (dv) was
recorded, and was typically 15–25 m (depending on
the stand density and free line-of-sight). From that
location, the height of the points (hp) was measured
and the crown radius at the point was determined from
the angle (ai) between the tree trunk center and crown
outmost point at that height. Knowing dv, the distance
from the person making the measurements to the
points up in the crown (di) could be calculated, and
then finally the crown radius at that height (ri) was
determined by
ri ¼ di sin ai ; where
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
di ¼ dv2 þ ðhp  1:3Þ2
with the units of the dimensions in metres. In addition
to the crown dimensions and breast height diameter,
stand density was recorded from a 0.01 ha area around
the sampled tree (a circular plot with radius 5.64 m) as
125
mentioned earlier. Seedlings with a dbh under 4 cm
were ignored when calculating the stem number.
After completing the measurements, the obtained
crown profiles were used to derive a simple crown
shape. The goal was to find a simple model requiring a
limited number of basic forest mensuration para-
meters, which could be applied in other studies (e.g.
the forest reflectance model of Kuusk and Nilson
(2000)), and therefore, for application reasons, radial
symmetry was assumed. In this study it was not
possible to assess the radial symmetry, but according
to an earlier study made in Finland by Kellomäki and
Oker-Blom (1983) the branch distribution of Scots
pine generally displays azimuthal symmetry. We fitted
to the part of the crown above the maximum crown
radius a curve belonging to the Lamé curve family
(also known as superquadrics) where the exponent (t)
determines the convexity or concavity of the curve.
The fitted curve was:
Rti hti
þ ¼1 (2)
Rtmax ct
where Ri is the crown radius (above Rmax), Rmax the
maximum crown radius, hi the length of crown above
Rmax, and c the total length of crown above Rmax (i.e.
distance between tree top and the height of Rmax). The
shape parameter (t) was obtained as a result of the
fitting. When t approaches 0, the shape becomes more
cross-like, and when t approaches infinity, the shape
becomes more rectangular. When t is 2, the shape is an
ellipsoid. The fitting was done iteratively pointwise
and the tree-specific t was then obtained as an average
of the pointwise t values. The number of points used
for the fitting varied, since the relative height of
maximum crown radius varied in the measured trees.
Thus, when on the crown profile the maximum crown
radius and the top of the tree were consecutive mea-
sured points, the exponent t was forced to be 1.
3. Results
(1) The data set from 260 Scots pine was used for
deriving the crown dimension models, assumed to
reflect typical relationships between the stand variables
(dbh, height, stand density and live crown base) in
Finland (Fig. 2). Good results were obtained for
predicting crown maximum radius (CRmax) and its
126 M. Rautiainen, P. Stenberg / Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 128 (2005) 123–129

Fig. 2. The measured tree variables used for the crown model development.

height above ground (HCRmax) from dbh and tree
height. The regressions for these two variables, which
are not available in normal inventory data, were fairly
strong but had relatively high root mean square errors
(RMSE) (Fig. 3). If data on the canopy closure of the
stands from which the trees originated was available, it
might be possible to use the information to reduce the
RMSEs of the regressions. On the other hand, reliable
canopy closure data is very rarely available in forest
inventories. The relative height of the crown maximum
radius above the crown base, however, did not correlate
with any of the measured stand variables (tree height,
dbh or stand density) and no useful relationship to
predict it was found.
Fitting the Lamé curve family to the upper crown,
i.e. the part above the maximum crown radius, showed
that the upper part is close to a cone (t = 1, Eq. (2)). For
this particular data set, the mean value for t was 1.15,
with a minimum of 0.57 and a maximum of 2.26. No
dependency of t on dbh, stand density or tree height

Fig. 3. Regressions for estimating crown maximum radius and its height (HCRmax).
 M. Rautiainen, P. Stenberg / Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 128 (2005) 123–129
Fig. 4. Fitting Lamé’s curves to the upper part of the crowns. The relationship of the shape parameter t (Eq. (2)) and tree variables. The line
denotes the mean t (1.15) of the whole data set.
was observed (Fig. 4), indicating insensitivity of the
parameter to stand age as well. Since t was close to 1,
and the coefficient of variation was fairly small (23%),
a conical shape is well justified for the upper part of
the crown. Four examples of trees and their measured
and modeled profiles are shown in Fig. 5.
The error in the crown shape, determined by the
Lamé curve, was assessed by comparing the calcu-
lated volumes of the measured and modeled crowns.
Three different crown shapes were used for modeling
the crown volume (Fig. 6). The best estimate of crown
volume, i.e. the volume calculated in seven parts using
Fig. 5. Examples of tree profiles: measured profile (solid line);
lower part cylinder and upper part with mean t (1.15) (dotted line).
127
the coordinates of the measured points was marked as
V7 parts; the crown which is a cylinder below the
maximum radius and has a shape determined by the
tree specific t above it was marked as Vown t; and
finally the crown which is a cylinder below the
maximum radius and has a shape determined by the
mean t (t = 1.15) above it was marked as Vmean t. The
differences between the best volume estimate V7 parts
and Vown t (RMSE = 31 m3) or V7 parts and Vmean t
(RMSE = 27 m3) could be considered acceptable for
such a coarse model.
4. Discussion
A formula representing the geometric solid or
surface of a tree crown has many potential applications
in remote sensing, functional or physiological canopy
processes modeling or forest management. However,
it is not known how important the role of crown shape
is in many of these models or allometric relationships.
When crown shape is required as input for any model,
the magnitude of its effect on the modeling outcome
should be understood. Thus, when studies show that
crown shape has a negligible effect on the modeling
result, i.e. the (realistic) model is insensitive to
changes in the variable, it is justified to say that time
and money need not be used for measuring it. In a
previous remote sensing study (Rautiainen et al.,
2004), we showed results indicating a considerable
effect of crown shape on the reflectance of coniferous
stands. However, the differences in crown shape were
associated with differences also in crown size
(volume), which caused part of the effect.
128 M. Rautiainen, P. Stenberg / Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 128 (2005) 123–129

Fig. 6. A comparison of crown volumes calculated in three ways: (1) the best estimate of crown volume, i.e. the volume calculated in 7 parts
using the coordinates of the measured points (V7 parts); (2) below the maximum radius a cylinder, above it according to the tree specific t (Vown t);
and finally (3) below the maximum radius a cylinder, above it according to the mean t (1.15) (Vmean t).

As mentioned, our long-term objective is to assess
the importance of crown shape in canopy radiation
models used for the estimation of LAI both in remote
sensing and gap fraction data interpretation. We are
also interested in finding a method for taking it into
account to the extent required in model inversion
where input data on crown shape is usually missing.
Therefore, we developed a crown shape model, which,
to begin with, can be used to generate the shape
coefficient (e.g. t) directly from routine stand data for
our intensive study site in Suonenjoki. Previously the
same family of curves has been used by Cescatti
(1997) and Koop (1989), but for developing a more
detailed model requiring more field measurements.
Various polynomial functions could also have been
fitted to the crown profile data (e.g. Baldwin and
Peterson, 1997), but a simple mathematical shape,
such as the cone + cylinder suggested in this study,
was preferred.
The conical upper part has appears to have a
physiological basis, as the height growth of a tree is
initially uniform (i.e. the distance between whorls
relatively constant). Young branches generally elon-
gate uniformly if no disturbances occur until a
maximum length is achieved and no substantial
changes in branch angles occur. However, approx-
imating the lower part of the crown as a cylinder is
probably not as justified. Fortunately, on the other
hand, radiation and gap fraction calculations are less
affected by the lower crown than the upper crown.
Foliage beneath the maximum crown radius does not
contribute much to the nadir-view canopy cover as
observed in remote sensing. The approach and model
presented in this paper are applicable for developing a
crown shape model for other tree species and wider
geographical regions though more empirical data are
required.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Ms. Tuula Väätäinen for
assisting in the field work, Dr. Heikki Smolander for
providing the working premises, Dr. Olavi Rautiainen
for constructing the first angle measuring device, and
Professor Tiit Nilson and Dr. Andres Kuusk for helpful
comments on the manuscript. This study has been
supported by grants 1655/03 and 1674/04 from the
Foundation for Research of Natural Resources in
Finland.
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