Article (Scientific journals)
Closing a gap in tropical forest biomass estimation : taking crown mass variation into account in pantropical allometries
Ploton, Pierre; Barbier, Nicolas; Takoudjou Momo, Stéphane et al.
2016In Biogeosciences, 13, p. 1571-1585
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Keywords :
biomass estimation; tropical forest; allometric models; crown mass variation
Abstract :
[en] Accurately monitoring tropical forest carbon stocks is a challenge that remains outstanding. Allometric models that consider tree diameter, height and wood density as predictors are currently used in most tropical forest carbon studies. In particular, a pantropical biomass model has been widely used for approximately a decade, and its most recent version will certainly constitute a reference model in the coming years. However, this reference model shows a systematic bias towards the largest trees. Because large trees are key drivers of forest carbon stocks and dynamics, understanding the origin and the consequences of this bias is of utmost concern. In this study, we compiled a unique tree mass data set of 673 trees destructively sampled in five tropical countries (101 trees > 100 cm in diameter) and an original data set of 130 forest plots (1 ha) from central Africa to quantify the prediction error of biomass allometric models at the individual and plot levels when explicitly taking crown mass variations into account or not doing so. We first showed that the proportion of crown to total tree aboveground biomass is highly variable among trees, ranging from 3 to 88 %. This proportion was constant on average for trees < 10Mg (mean of 34 %) but, above this threshold, increased sharply with tree mass and exceeded 50% on average for trees _45 Mg. This increase coincided with a progressive deviation between the pantropical biomass model estimations and actual tree mass. Taking a crown mass proxy into account in a newly developed model consistently removed the bias observed for large trees (> 1 Mg) and reduced the range of plot-level error (in %) from [-23; 16] to [0; 10]. The disproportionally higher allocation of large trees to crown mass may thus explain the bias observed recently in the reference pantropical model. This bias leads to far-from-negligible, but often overlooked, systematic errors at the plot level and may be easily corrected by taking a crown mass proxy for the largest trees in a stand into account, thus suggesting that the accuracy of forest carbon estimates can be significantly improved at a minimal cost.
Disciplines :
Phytobiology (plant sciences, forestry, mycology...)
Agriculture & agronomy
Author, co-author :
Ploton, Pierre
Barbier, Nicolas
Takoudjou Momo, Stéphane
Réjou-Méchain, Maxime
Bosela, Faustin Boyemba
Chuyong, Georges
Dauby, Gilles
Droissart, Vincent
Fayolle, Adeline  ;  Université de Liège > Ingénierie des biosystèmes (Biose) > Gestion des ressources forestières et des milieux naturels
Calisto Goodman, Rosa
Matieu, Henry
Kamdem, Narcisse Guy
Mukirania, John Katembo
Kenfack, David
Libalah, Moses
Ngomanda, Alfred
Rossi, Vivien
Sonké, Bonaventure
Texier, Nicolas
Duncan, Thomas
Zebase, Donatien
Couteron, Pierre
Berger, Uta
Pélissier, Raphaël
More authors (14 more) Less
Language :
English
Title :
Closing a gap in tropical forest biomass estimation : taking crown mass variation into account in pantropical allometries
Publication date :
2016
Journal title :
Biogeosciences
ISSN :
1726-4170
eISSN :
1726-4189
Publisher :
European Geosciences Union, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
Volume :
13
Pages :
1571-1585
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Available on ORBi :
since 14 September 2016

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