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Re-evaluation of individual diameter : height allometric models to improve biomass estimation of tropical trees

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Illian_2016_EA_IndividualDiameter_FinalPubVersion.pdf (1.672Mb)
Date
01/12/2016
Author
Ledo, Alicia
Cornulier, Thomas
Illian, Janine B.
Iida, Yoshiko
Kassim, Abdul Rahman
Burslem, David F. R. P.
Keywords
Bias
Biomass
Error
Inaccuracy
Modelling
Tropical forest
GE Environmental Sciences
HA Statistics
QA Mathematics
DAS
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Abstract
Accurate estimation of tree biomass is necessary to provide realistic values of the carbon stored in the terrestrial biosphere. A recognized source of errors in tree above-ground biomass (AGB) estimation is introduced when individual tree height values (H) are not directly measured but estimated from diameter at breast height (DBH) using allometric equations. In this paper we evaluate the performance of 12 alternative DBH : H equations and compare their effects on AGB estimation for three tropical forests that occur in contrasting climatic and altitudinal zones. We found that fitting a 3-parameter Weibull function using data collected locally generated the lowest errors and bias in H estimation, and that equations fitted to these data were more accurate than equations with parameters derived from the literature. For computing AGB, the introduced error values differed notably among DBH : H allometric equations, and in most cases showed a clear bias that resulted in either over- or under-estimation of AGB. Fitting the three-parameter Weibull function minimized errors in AGB estimates in our study and we recommend its widespread adoption for carbon stock estimation. We conclude that many previous studies are likely to present biased estimates of AGB due to the method of H estimation.
Citation
Ledo , A , Cornulier , T , Illian , J B , Iida , Y , Kassim , A R & Burslem , D F R P 2016 , ' Re-evaluation of individual diameter : height allometric models to improve biomass estimation of tropical trees ' , Ecological Applications , vol. 26 , no. 8 , pp. 2374-2380 . https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1450
Publication
Ecological Applications
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1450
ISSN
1939-5582
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2016 by the Ecological Society of America. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eap.1450
Description
The first author was supported by the European Union under a IEF Marie-Curie Action.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/9898

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