Acta Scientiarum Polonorum
Silvarum Colendarum Ratio et Industria Lignaria

Abstract It was attempted to study the effect of stand density on the stem form of Scots pine trees. To estimate stand density the index SDI of Reineke (1933) was used. The analyses carried out showed that the stand density index has no significant effect on values of breast height and specific form factors. The detailed analysis of the stem form curve permitted to conclude that stand density affects the form of the top part of the stem profile. Trees in stands of low density in comparison with trees in stands of high density are characterized by lower values of relative diameters in the top part of the stem, especially in the range from 0.7 to 0.9 of the tree height. However, differences in stem profiles of trees from stands of different density are significant only in the range from 0.82 to 0.89 of the relative height. Using the stand density index in the empirical equation for determination of volume does not increase its accuracy.