A review of past research on dendrometers

The purpose of a dendrometer is to measure tree diameter. Contact and nonco ntact dendrometers accomplish this task by collecting different metrics, in cluding girth or distance between tangent points on a tree stem. Many dendr ometers have been developed in the last quarter century and many have been retired. This article summarizes instrument developments and application re sults, contains an interpretation of the results, and provides guidance for dendrometer selection.