Indian Forest Service Examination Forest Management & Yield Regulation: practice questions

1 · Objectives and principles of forest management · medium

A felling series is:

1. The order in which tree species are cut within a single compartment each year
2. The list of saw-milling contractors approved for each forest division
3. A part of a working circle with its own yield and sequence of fellings
4. The series of thinnings applied to one stand over a whole rotation

2 · Objectives and principles of forest management · medium

India's National Forest Policy of 1988 set a national goal of what share of land under forest or tree cover?

1. One-quarter overall, and one-half in the hills
2. One-half overall, and three-quarters in the hills
3. One-fifth overall, with no separate target for hills
4. One-third overall, and two-thirds in the hills

3 · Sustained yield and the normal forest · easy

In a normal forest, the annual yield equals:

1. Half the annual increment of the whole forest
2. The growing stock divided by the number of compartments
3. The volume of the youngest age class only
4. The annual increment of the whole forest

4 · Rotation: physical, silvicultural, technical, financial, maximum volume · medium

Compared with the rotation of maximum volume production, the financial rotation at a positive interest rate is usually:

1. Longer, because interest makes older trees more valuable each year
2. Identical, because both maximise the same quantity over time
3. Shorter, because waiting has a cost when money earns interest
4. Longer at high interest rates and shorter at low interest rates

5 · Growing stock, density and normal growing stock · medium

Using the triangle approximation, what is the normal growing stock of a 1200-ha forest with 300 m³/ha at a 60-year rotation?

1. 360000 m³
2. 6000 m³
3. 180000 m³
4. 90000 m³

6 · Growing stock, density and normal growing stock · hard

Why is the triangle approximation of normal growing stock biased for most species?

1. Real forests always contain more age classes than the rotation allows
2. The approximation ignores bark, which is half of all stem volume
3. The approximation counts each age class twice in the calculation
4. Real stand volume rises along a sigmoid curve, not in proportion to age

7 · Increment and the felling cycle · medium

Trees grow 0.8 cm a year in diameter. How long do they take to pass through a 10-cm diameter class?

1. 12.5 years
2. 8.0 years
3. 1.25 years
4. 80 years

8 · Yield regulation by area · hard

Why does area control guarantee a normal series of age classes after one rotation regardless of the starting structure?

1. Volume per hectare becomes equal everywhere after the first felling of each coupe
2. Every part of the forest is felled and regenerated exactly once, in equal annual areas
3. Area control fells the oldest stands first, which leaves only young ones
4. Increment equals yield from the first year, which fixes the structure

9 · Yield regulation in uneven-aged forests by number of trees and diameter limits · medium

The yield-regulation method developed by Brandis for the teak forests of Burma is an example of:

1. An area method using equal annual coupes in clear-felling systems
2. A linear-programming model maximising net present value
3. A number-of-trees method based on girth classes and passage times
4. A volume formula based on normal growing stock

10 · Multiple-use and ecosystem management · hard

Ecosystem management differs from traditional output-based management mainly by:

1. Maximising timber yield first and adding conservation only if budgets allow
2. Abandoning all monitoring so that ecosystems can manage themselves
3. Managing each stand in isolation without regard to the landscape
4. Sustaining ecosystem composition, structure and function, from which outputs follow