How accurate are the growth predictions from CACTOS (Wensel and Daugherty, 
1985) or CRYPTOS (Wensel, Krumland, and Meerschaert)?  Region wide estimates
of the behavior of the CACTOS growth models have been made at the individual
tree level by Wensel and Koehler (1986).  With the COMPARE program, users of 
CACTOS and CRYPTOS can do their own validation at the plot level for stands 
where sufficient remeasurement data are available.

The program COMPARE, described herein, was prepared to compute the relative 
difference between the actual and CACTOS/CRYPTOS-predicted change in basal 
area, board foot volume, and cubic foot volume.  As illustrated in Figure 1, 
the actual and predicted growth values are obtained by running permanent plot 
data through CACTOS /CRYPTOS to produce comparable yield files.  COMPARE then 
takes the difference between the actual and predicted growth of each 
permanent plot.  Average differences are then computed for all plots being 
compared.

DESCRIPTION OF INPUT FILES

The input files for COMPARE are the yield files produced by CACTOS /CRYPTOS.  
There are two yield files required for each plot to be compared, one for the 
initial measurement and one for the remeasurement.   The initial measurement 
(Appendix Table A) should be grown for the amount of time elapsed between 
measurements (without quintupling).  To project the stand to a period that 
is not a multiple of 5 years, see the "Advanced Topics" section in either the 
CACTOS or CRYPTOS User's Guide (ibid.).  The second file (Appendix Table B) 
is automatically produced (with no growth) when the remeasurement is read 
into CACTOS.

An additional master input file is required.  This file contains keyword, 
"CACTOS" or "CRYPTOS" to indicate which simulator is being used, and the 
names of the input yield files and the optional output filenames for 
individual plot comparisons.  The format is illustrated in Table 1 for eight 
demonstration plots on a hypothetical stand using CACTOS.

There should be one line of filenames for each plot simulated in CACTOS/
CRYPTOS.  If the output file is left blank, individual plot comparisons are  
skipped, while the aggregate comparison is accumulated as usual.  After all 
of the files are processed the program will prompt the user for a file name 
into which the results of the aggregate comparison are written.



 
Table 1.  Sample input file containing input and output filenames.

	column 	
	12345...... 	16........ 	31........
	CACTOS
	DEMO1.YD1	DEMO1.YD2	DEMO1.CMP
	DEMO2.YD1	DEMO2.YD2	DEMO2.CMP
	DEMO3.YD1	DEMO3.YD2	DEMO3.CMP
	DEMO4.YD1	DEMO4.YD2	DEMO4.CMP
	DEMO5.YD1	DEMO5.YD2	DEMO5.CMP
	DEMO6.YD1	DEMO6.YD2	DEMO6.CMP
	DEMO7.YD1	DEMO7.YD2	DEMO7.CMP
	DEMO8.YD1	DEMO8.YD2	DEMO8.CMP

OUTPUT FILE FORMATS
	There are two possible types of output files produced by COMPARE.  
The first contains the average comparison figures for the entire set of 
remeasurements.  The second (optional) contains the file by file comparisons 
made for each plot.  Files containing the  plot-by-plot comparison are 
produced only if a filename is specified in the third column of the filename 
input file.  An example of an individual plot comparison is shown in 
Appendix Table C.

	The aggregate comparison file, shown in Appendix Table D, is produced 
every time the program is run.  It is named by the user when the program 
finishes processing the specified yield files.  This file reports the 
following average statistics: initial stocking, actual and predicted annual 
growth, residuals and their standard errors, and the number of plots on 
which those averages are based.  These figures are reported for basal area 
(sq.ft./acre), board foot volume (MBF/acre), and cubic foot volume 
(MCF/acre).  The composite table is computed by averaging the individual 
yield files.  Standard errors are provided to show the statistical 
significance of the differences.  


 Appendix Table A.  Sample CACTOS yield file for initial measurement.

	YIELD SUMMARY:  units = english
	Cofile version 4.0   9/28/88  Contains new coefficients.
	stand label = Compare Demo 1.1

	
		     min. DBH	merch top
	cubic ft.	  .0	    4
	board ft.	 8.0	    6

	species	site	init. age
	Pond. Pine	  85.	     0.
	Sugar Pine	  83.	     0.
	Cedar misc	  70.	     0.
	Douglas fir	  84.	     0.
	White Fir	  75.	     0.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
species      	et 	dbar 	tpa 	basar	cvol	bdvol	bagro 	cvgro	bdgro
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sugar Pine	.00	31.76	15.0	82.5	3.00	18.77	.0	.00	.00
Cedar misc	.00	39.33	10.0	84.4	2.56	15.34	.0	.00	.00
Douglas fir	.00	30.40	5.0	25.2	.95	5.84	.0	.00	.00
White Fir	.00	10.84	165.0	105.7	2.84	14.81	.0	.00	.00
Totals	.00	16.73	195.0	297.7	9.35	54.76	.0	.00	.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sugar Pine	5.00	33.40	15.0	91.3	3.46	22.13	8.8	.45	3.36
Cedar misc	5.00	40.33	10.0	88.7	2.74	16.58	4.3	.18	1.25
Douglas Fir	5.00	32.06	5.0	28.0	1.11	6.98	2.8	.16	1.14
White Fir	5.00	11.52	165.0	119.5	3.41	18.29	13.9	.57	3.48
Totals	5.00	17.55	195.0	327.5	10.71	63.99	29.8	1.36	9.23
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Appendix Table B.  Sample remeasurement yield file produced by CACTOS.

			
	YIELD SUMMARY:  units = english
	Cofile version 4.0   9/28/88  Contains new coefficients.
	stand label = Compare Demo 1.2

	
			min. DBH	merch top
        cubic ft.      	 .0		6
        board ft.	8.0		6

	species	site	init. age
	Pond. Pine	  85.	     0.
	Sugar Pine	  83.	     0.
	Cedar misc	  70.	     0.
	Douglas fir	  84.	     0.
	White Fir	  75.	     0.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
species  	et 	dbar	tpa 	basar  	cvol	bdvol	bagro	cvgro	bdgro 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sugar Pine	.00	33.49	15.0	91.8	3.37	21.34	.0	.00	.00
Cedar misc	.00	39.64	10.0	85.7	2.63	15.87	.0	.00	.00
Douglas Fir	.00	30.00	5.0	24.5	.99	6.17	.0	.00	.00
White Fir	.00	11.50	165.0	119.0	3.42	18.49	.0	.00	.00
Totals	.00	17.37	195.0	321.0	10.40	61.87	.0	.00	.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Appendix Table C.  Sample of individual comparison yield file.

	YIELD SUMMARY:  units = english
	Cofile version 4.0   9/28/88  Contains new coefficients.
	stand label = Compare Demo 1.1     and Compare Demo 1.2
	
		     min. DBH	merch top
	cubic ft.	.0	 	6
	board ft.      8.0		6

	species	site	init. age
	Pond. Pine	  85.	     0.
	Sugar Pine	  83.	     0.
	Cedar misc	  70.	     0.
	Douglas-fir	  84.	     0.
	White Fir	  75.	     0.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
species	et 	dbar	tpa	basar	cvol	bdvol	bagro	cvgro	bdgro 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sugar Pine	.00	31.76	15.0	82.5	3.00	18.77	.0	.00	.00
Cedar misc	.00	39.33	10.0	84.4	2.56	15.34	.0	.00	.00
Douglas Fir	.00	30.40	5.0	25.2	.95	5.84	.0	.00	.00
White Fir	.00	10.84	165.0	105.7	2.84	14.81	.0	.00	.00
Totals	.00	16.73	195.0	297.7	9.35	54.76	.0	.00	.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sugar Pine	5.00	33.40	15.0	91.3	3.46	22.13	8.8	.45	3.36
Cedar misc	5.00	40.33	10.0	88.7	2.74	16.58	4.3	.18	1.25
Douglas Fir	5.00	32.06	5.0	28.0	1.11	6.98	2.8	.16	1.14
White Fir	5.00	11.52	165.0	119.5	3.41	18.29	13.9	.57	3.48
Totals	5.00	17.55	195.0	327.5	10.71	63.99	29.8	1.36	9.23
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTUAL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sugar Pine	.00	33.49	15.0	91.8	3.37	21.34	.0	.00	.00
Cedar misc	.00	39.64	10.0	85.7	2.63	15.87	.0	.00	.00
Douglas Fir	.00	30.00	5.0	24.5	.99	6.17	.0	.00	.00
White Fir	.00	11.50	165.0	119.0	3.42	18.49	.0	.00	.00
Totals	.00	17.37	195.0	321.0	10.40	61.87	.0	.00	.00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Appendix Table D.  Example of final aggregate comparison.

CACTOS  Yield File Comparison

Filename:  COMPARE.OUT

All Growth Figures are PER ACRE PER YEAR

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
		    	BASAL AREA
       	initial 	actual	predicted	residual	std. err.	no.
species	stocking 	growth    	growth  	% of pred. 	% of pred.	plots
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pond. Pine	97.780	1.984	2.696	-26.4%	9.0%	5.
Sugar Pine	79.150	2.235	2.000	11.8%	10.2%	4.
Cedar misc	51.475	.983	.965	1.8%	16.0%	8.
Douglas Fir	77.080	1.736	1.884	-7.9%	8.0%	5.
White Fir	46.200	1.225	1.365	-10.3%	9.3%	4.
Totals	223.425	5.040	5.512	-8.6%	5.4%	8.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               	CUBIC VOLUME
        	initial	actual  	predicted	residual	std. err.	no.
species	stocking 	growth   	growth   	% of pred. 	% of pred.  	plots  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pond. Pine	3.086	.101	.141    -28.4%	12.8%	5.
Sugar Pine	2.543	.095	.094	 1.1%	11.9%	4.
Cedar misc	1.154	.029	.028	 3.5%	19.4%	8.
Douglas Fir	2.820	.096	.107    -10.4%	 5.9%	5.
White Fir	1.288	.041	.056    -27.0%	31.2%	4.
Totals	6.762	.219	.257    -14.7%	 6.2%	8.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                              	BOARD FOOT VOLUME
	initial	actual	predicted	residual	std. err. 	no.
species    	stocking 	growth   	growth 	% of pred. 	% of pred.	plots  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pond. PIne	16.800	.660	.924    -28.6%	12.6%	5.
Sugar Pine	15.333	.661	.662	 -.2%	13.0%	4.
Cedar misc	6.330	.178	.164	 8.5%	23.1%	8.
Douglas Fir	17.390	.668	.741	-9.8%	 6.6%	5.
White Fir	6.198	.224	.323    -30.5%	37.9%	4.
Totals	38.465	1.451	1.697    -14.5%	 6.4%	8.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Compare User's Guide	Research Note No. 17