Diameter Breast Height (DBH)

Bottom Diameter values in centimetres:
3.5 3 3.1 4.5 2.1 3.3 5.5 1.3 1.0 3.0 2.0 1.4 .9 3.4 4.2 5.4 2.1 3.2 4.6 3.3 2.7 2.2 1.1 1.4 3.2 4.1 4.0 5.1 7.5 5.4 5.9 8.1 6.4 5.5 4.2 3.0 1.0 2.5
Mean: 3.5
Median: 3.25

Top Diameter values in centimetres:
1.0 .7 .4 .8 2.3 2.5 4.9 6.5 2.1 2.3 3.5 2.1 2.5 7.0 9.5 2.1 4.5 4.4 3.5 3.5 9.5
Mean: 3.6
Median: 2.5

Although the average diameter values approximate 3.5cm, the median diameter values differ greatly between dead lumber located at the bottom and dead lumber at the top of a hill. The median diameter value was much higher at near the bottom of the hill. What could possibly explain this phenomenon? Obvious changes in acidity and nutrient content vary with changes in elevation. Due to gravity and the process of nutrient flow downhill, soils at the bottom of a hill are more abundant in nutrients than soils at the top of a hill. Trees at the bottom exposed to higher abundances of key nutrients, like phosphorus and nitrogen, will grow fatter. Trees at a higher slope, lacking key nutrients, will die sooner before they have the chance to grow large.