Modeling dominant height growth based on nonlinear mixed-effects model: a clonal Eucalyptus plantation case study

Eucalyptus is the most valuable cultivated forest genus in Brazil nowadays. Modeling eucalypts growth has been a challenge for foresters in recent years due to the strong site and genetic variations, management regimes and multiple products generated from those plantations. Because the forest height growth is directly related with the site characteristics and with forest productivity, the improvement on the height growth representation implies in better productivity estimation. A nonlinear mixed-effects model was developed to represent the height growth pattern of eucalypts clonal stands from the Brazilian coastal region. Likewise in other scientific fields, this type of modeling methodology showed to be flexible, precise and accurate, generating multimorphic growth curves for different sites and clones.