Cost-benefit analysis of industrial and homemade dendrometer bands

Abstract

Dendrometer bands are used to make repeated measurements of tree radial growth. Two types of dendrometers are used worldwide, the industrial and the homemade. Homemade dendrometers prevail in Brazilian forestry studies, but researchers have trouble constructing and installing them. An easier solution is to use industrial dendrometer bands, but they are not produced in Brazil and, therefore, are expensive and might not be appropriate for local environmental conditions. We analyzed trunk growth measurements each month (from February 2008 to January 2009) using both industrial (imported) and homemade (national components) dendrometer bands installed on 20 trees of Acacia tenuifolia in a seasonally dry forest on limestone outcrops in central Brazil. Cost-benefit comparative analysis of measurements and prices indicates that homemade dendrometer bands have all benefits, and none of the problems, of the imported industrial dendrometer bands, such as the following: (1) similar precision of measurements (correlation analysis: r > 0.930, P < 0.01; permutation t-test: P > 0.55), (2) much lower costs (10 to 15 times cheaper), (3) easily manipulated and installated in the field, and (4) absence of some damage to tree trunks that are caused by industrial dendrometers.