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Estimation of above ground biomass of forest trees using dbh as a single parameter
By hiran | December 10, 2007
I D Welivita and S M C U P Subasinghe
Department of Forestry and Environmental Science,
University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka
Forests in Sri Lanka contribute to the mitigation of climate change through sequestrating a net amount of carbon dioxide and also maintaining carbon stock as biomass. Total tree biomass comprised of above ground and below ground biomass of trees. This paper presents a methodology developed to estimate individual tree above ground biomass using allometric relationships. The advantage of this method is that the above ground biomass per unit area can be determined by estimating these values for different species separately within that area. The present study was conducted in Yagirala Natural Forest Reserve situated in Kalutara District, low country wet zone of Sri Lanka. In this study, the above ground biomass of different species available in that forest were predicted using the diameter at breast height (dbh).
45 tree species were identified in the forest and models were separately developed for each species. For each species, 3 classes were established using the size, i.e., small, medium, and large. For class 1 and 2 trees, the main stem and the average size branch were divided into sections and for each section end diameters and length were measured. The volume of each section was estimated using Smalians formula. The total branch volume was estimated by multiplying the average branch volume by number of branches. Then a volume and biomass relationship was estimated for each species by measuring the biomass of a known volume.
The leaf biomass in the crown was estimated by measuring that in 1m3 of crown volume. Then it was converted to the entire crown via crown volume. Finally above ground tree biomass was calculated by adding branch and crown biomass to stem biomass.
Then allometric relationships were developed to predict the above ground biomass of each of 45 species separately using dbh. A strong relationship was found between total tree biomass and dbh of all species with R2 values over 95%. In order to test further improvement of the models, total height was added as the second explanatory variable. However, it did not improve the R2 and for most species height became non-significant. Therefore the finally selected basic model structure was log biomass = a + b log dbh. The model parameters however, indicated different values for a and b for the different species, varying a from -1.71 (Mastixia tetranda) to – 0.73 (Xylopia parvifolia) and b from 2.01 (Putranjiva zeylanica) to 3.29 (Syzygium cordifolium).
Topics: Forest Management, Silviculture, symposium 2006 | 13 Comments »
May 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I am a M.Sc. student from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. I am interested in the subject biomass and now trying to conduct my academic thesis related with biomass. Can you please let me have this full paper. Niranjan Bhakta Ranjitkar (neeranjit@yahoo.com)
May 19th, 2009 at 7:14 am
I am a M.Sc. student from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. I am interested in the subject biomass and now trying to conduct my academic thesis related with biomass. Can you please let me have this full paper.
June 5th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Im a M.Sc. student from National University of Malaysia. Currently, im working on biomass study conducted on Acacia sp. I would like to have a full copy of your research paper for my reference. Thank you
June 8th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Send me your email address so that I can send you the full paper on biomass estimation.
June 15th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
this is a good job please can i get the full copy of the paper, thanks
you can please send it inform of attachement to my mail address
January 7th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
I am PhD student , and i am doing research on biomass potential so I would like to full paper of your research, Thank you Can you send me on my email address.
January 13th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Good paper.I am an Msc student doing research on biomass estimation. Please can I have a copy of this paper.Thank you
March 24th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
Interesting paper, I am a phD student from Sweden doing similar analyses. Could you please send me a copy of the full paper? Thank you!
May 28th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Contact author Dr Upul Subasinghe http://srilankaforestry.blogspot.com/
October 29th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Hello, I’m a Bsc Biology student from the University of Mauritius. I’m actually doing my Bsc project on biomass of mangrove forest in Mauritius. Would it possible to have a copy of the full text paper?
Thank you.
August 5th, 2011 at 4:51 pm
Dear Dr. Subasinghe,
I am Bandumala here. I read your above abstract. It is very interesting. I would be very much grateful if you could send me the full paper.
Thank you.
Bandumala.
Forest Department
Sri Lanka.
January 15th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
good day… i read the abstract above and I’m really interested ..I’m actually doing my research. Could you please send me a copy of the full paper? Thank you!
January 17th, 2012 at 7:47 am
Estimation of Above Ground Tree Biomass and Carbon of Pinus caribaea (Morelet)
S.M.C.U.P. Subasinghe, G.B. Munasinghe
Full paper is here in Journal of Tropical Forestry and Environment.
http://journals.sjp.ac.lk/index.php/JTFE/article/view/85