The measure of neighbourhood dimensions as a parameter to reproduce stand structures

The measure of neighbourhood dimensions quantifies the number of neighbours to the reference tree i, which are of greater dimensions than tree i itsel f. The tools to describe and analyze stand structures such as dbh-distribut ion and dbh-differentiation are complemented by the measure of neighborhood dimensions. The new parameter reveals its greatest advantage when trying t o reproduce complex stand structures. The dbh-differentiation is not suffic ient for describing the small-scale differences in neighbouring tree dimens ions, because it does not make any distinctions whether the reference tree or its neighbor is of bigger size. The measure of neighborhood dimensions c an be used to assign the correct trend in size, i.e., whether the dimension of the reference tree or its neighbour is greater. Afterwards, the magnitu de of the differences in dimensions can be optimized by applying parameter differentiation.