Assessing stand species and structural diversity at neighbourhood scale

Forest diversity assessments are typically conducted at stand scale. This traditional diversity assessment may provide substantial insight into overall stand structure but is limited with respect to describing within-stand variation, an important aspect of stand diversity. This article describes a method for assessing species and structural diversity at within-stand, neighbourhood scale. • Nearest neighbours are determined from mapped tree locations in field survey plots. • R codes (provided in appendices) are used to assist with determining species and structural diversity indices at a neighbourhood of 4 trees (a subject tree and the 3 nearest neighbours). • Neighbourhood structural diversity indices are compared against structural complexity index (SCI) in capturing within-stand variation. • Neighbourhood diversity indices, especially in managed stands, are useful for capturing spatial variation in species and structural diversity.