Colorimetry vs. spectrophotometry: which is better for discrimination of 13 native tree species in Southern Brazil?

doi:10.3832/ifor4699-018

Colorimetry vs. spectrophotometry: which is better for discrimination of 13 native tree species in Southern Brazil?

Helena Cristina Vieira⁽¹⁾ , Rafaela Stange⁽²⁾, Joielan Xipaia Dos Santos⁽³⁾, Deivison Venicio Souza⁽⁴⁾, Polliana D’Angelo Rios⁽²⁾, Graciela Inés Bolzon De Muñiz⁽³⁾, Simone Ribeiro Morrone⁽³⁾, Silvana Nisgoski⁽³⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 19, Issue 1, Pages 45-51 (2026)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor4699-018
Published: Feb 12, 2026 - Copyright © 2026 SISEF

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The application of colorimetric parameters for wood quality control, species discrimination, and property evaluation has been described, but no studies have been published comparing the results obtained by colorimetry and spectrophotometry for the analysis of wood. The objective of this study was to establish spectral parameters for 13 native species from an Araucaria forest stand in Southern Brazil using colorimetric and spectrophotometric methods, and to compare the two methods for species discrimination. For each species, three individuals were collected, from which a disc was removed at breast height and divided into six specimens from pith to bark for analysis. Four parameters were determined for each specimen, two on the transversal surface and two on the radial surface, by each method. The results revealed a variation in the parameters L*, a*, and b*, and PCA results varied with the surface and species evaluated. Measurements of the radial surface, in general, yielded a lower species differentiation using the two methods. When considering the potential use of a technique for species identification in the field, it is necessary to rely on prior data obtained using the same method. In conclusion, colorimetry proved to rapidly discriminate native species in Araucaria forest areas.

Keywords

Araucaria Forest, Colorimetric Parameters, Principal Component Analysis, Species Distinction, Wood

Authors’ address

(1)

0000-0001-9008-5463
Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Department of Forest Science, Recife, Pernambuco (Brazil)

(2)

0000-0001-6116-9019
0000-0002-3700-7084
University of Santa Catarina State, Department of Forest Engineering, Lages, Santa Catarina (Brazil)

(3)

0000-0002-5480-4261
0000-0003-4417-0178
0000-0002-3872-7198
0000-0001-9595-9131
Federal University of Paraná, Postgraduate Program in Forest Engineering, Department of Forestry Engineering, Curitiba, Paraná (Brazil)

(4)

0000-0002-2975-0927
Federal University of Pará, Faculty of Forestry Engineering, Altamira, Pará (Brazil)

Corresponding author

Helena Cristina Vieira
rafaellastange@hotmail.com

Citation

Vieira HC, Stange R, Dos Santos JX, Souza DV, Rios PDA, De Muñiz GIB, Morrone SR, Nisgoski S (2026). Colorimetry vs. spectrophotometry: which is better for discrimination of 13 native tree species in Southern Brazil?. iForest 19: 45-51. - doi: 10.3832/ifor4699-018

Academic Editor

Marco Borghetti

Paper history

Received: Jul 30, 2024
Accepted: Feb 07, 2026

First online: Feb 12, 2026
Publication Date: Feb 28, 2026
Publication Time: 0.17 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

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