Towards a functional and simplified allometry for estimating forest biomass
Aboveground tree biomass (M) can be estimated using a power function in the form of M = aDb where a and b are the scaling coefficient and scaling exponent, respectively, and D the tree breast-height diameter. Both a and b are reported to vary with species, site and age. However West et al. [West, G.B., Brown, J.H., Enquist, B.J., 1999. Moreover a should be related with the wood density (ρ). Allometric scaling of production and life-history variation in vascular plants. Nature 401, 907–911]. We collected 49 datasets of different species (most from the literature) with individual data of diameter, mass and tree height. We analysed the height-diameter relationship and estimated b and a for each dataset, in order to test whether: (i) the scaling exponent may be considered universal or, conversely, dependent on species, tree stage or site and (ii) a was correlated with wood density. Analysis of the height diameter relationship for each species and site generally allowed a juvenile, an adult and a mature stage to be identified. b appeared to be related to tree stage but independent of species and site. The mean a value was also correlated with the wood density. We estimated tree biomass using different b exponents for each stage, deriving a from ρ. This approach was applied to a validation dataset and an average relative difference of 21.4% from the observed values was obtained. This would suggest that total forest aboveground biomass can be estimated by using functional allometry (i.e., universal b parameters), potentially avoiding any destructive tree sampling.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Texto biblioteca |
| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
Amsterdam Elsevier
2006
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| Subjects: | ALOMETRIA, MODELOS, BIOMASA, ESTIMACION, ARBOLES, MEDICION, DIAMETRO A LA ALTURA DE PECHO, ALTURA, ECUACIONES ALOMETRICAS, BIOMASA AEREA, AGROFORESTERIA, MODELS, BIOMASS, ESTIMATE, TREES, MEASUREMENT, HEIGHT, AGROFORESTRY, |
| Online Access: | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378112706010243 |
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