Functional identity of overstorey tree height and understorey conservative traits drive aboveground biomass in a subtropical forest

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 158-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arshad Ali ◽  
En-Rong Yan
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1360
Author(s):  
Herve B. Kashongwe ◽  
David P. Roy ◽  
Jean Robert B. Bwangoy

Inventories of tropical forest aboveground biomass (AGB) are often imprecise and sparse. Increasingly, airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) and satellite optical wavelength sensor data are used to map tree height and to estimate AGB. In the tropics, cloud cover is particularly prevalent and so several years of satellite observations must be considered. This may reduce mapping accuracy because of seasonal and inter-annual changes in the forest reflectance. In this paper, the sensitivity of airborne LiDAR and Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) based dominant canopy height and AGB 30 m mapping is assessed with respect to the season of Landsat acquisition for a ~10,000 Km2 tropical forest area in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A random forest regression estimator is used to predict and assess the 30 m dominant canopy height using LiDAR derived test and training data. The AGB is mapped using an allometric model parameterized with the dominant canopy height and is assessed by comparison with field based 30 m AGB estimates. Experiments are undertaken independently using (i) only a wet season Landsat-8 image, (ii) only a dry season Landsat-8 image, and (iii) both Landsat-8 images. At the study area level there is little reported sensitivity to the season of Landsat image used. The mean dominant canopy height and AGB values are similar between seasons, within 0.19 m and 5 Mg ha−1, respectively. The mapping results are improved when both Landsat-8 images are used with Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values that correspond to 18.8% of the mean study area mapped tree height (20.4 m) and to 41% of the mean study area mapped AGB (204 Mg ha−1). The mean study area mapped AGB is similar to that reported in other Congo Basin forest studies. The results of this detailed study are illustrated and the implications for tropical forest tree height and AGB mapping are discussed.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1020
Author(s):  
Yan Gao ◽  
Margaret Skutsch ◽  
Diana Laura Jiménez Rodríguez ◽  
Jonathan V. Solórzano

The purpose of this work was to determine which structural variables present statistically significant differences between degraded and conserved tropical dry forest through a statistical study of forest survey data. The forest survey was carried out in a tropical dry forest in the watershed of the River Ayuquila, Jalisco state, Mexico between May and June of 2019, when data were collected in 36 plots of 500 m2. The sample was designed to include tropical dry forests in two conditions: degraded and conserved. In each plot, data collected included diameter at breast height, tree height, number of trees, number of branches, canopy cover, basal area, and aboveground biomass. Using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, we show that there are significant differences in canopy cover, tree height, basal area, and aboveground biomass between degraded and conserved tropical dry forest. Among these structural variables, canopy cover and mean height separate conserved and degraded forests with the highest accuracy (both at 80.7%). We also tested which variables best correlate with aboveground biomass, with a view to determining how carbon loss in degraded forest can be quantified at a larger scale using remote sensing. We found that canopy cover, tree height, and density of trees all show good correlation with biomass and these variables could be used to estimate changes in biomass stocks in degraded forests. The results of our analysis will help to increase the accuracy in estimating aboveground biomass, contribute to the ongoing work on REDD+, and help to reduce the great uncertainty in estimation of emissions from forest degradation.


1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1064-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
David D. Reed ◽  
Glenn D. Mroz ◽  
Hal O. Liechty ◽  
Elizabeth A. Jones ◽  
Peter J. Cattelino ◽  
...  

In 1984, red pine (Pinusresinosa Ait.) plantations were established at three sites in northern Michigan. From 1985 through 1992, 3083 individual trees from these stands were destructively sampled to determine aboveground biomass. The root systems were excavated on a subset of these trees (975 individuals). There were no significant differences in the relationships between either above- or below-ground biomass and groundline diameter and tree height across the range of biomass (3–6720 g for aboveground biomass and 1–319 g for belowground biomass), basal diameter (0.3–10.1 cm), or height (10–417 cm) of the sampled trees. There were also no significant differences in these relationships among the three sites. Relative height growth (the ratio of total height increment in a year and the total height at the beginning of the growing season) was found to have a very well defined maximum that was a function of total height at the beginning of the growing season. This maximum relative growth rate was used to develop a new height growth index that can be used to identify precompetitive red pine that are approaching their potential height growth in field situations.


2014 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sepideh Zolfaghar ◽  
Randol Villalobos-Vega ◽  
James Cleverly ◽  
Melanie Zeppel ◽  
Rizwana Rumman ◽  
...  

Although it is well documented that access to groundwater can help plants survive drought in arid and semiarid areas, there have been few studies in mesic environments that have evaluated variation of vegetation characteristics across a naturally occurring gradient in depth-to-groundwater (DGW). The aim of this study was to determine whether differences in groundwater depth influence structural attributes and productivity of remnant woodlands in south-eastern Australia. The study area was located in the Kangaloon bore-field area of New South Wales, where DGW varies from 2.4 m to 37.5 m and rainfall is plentiful. We examined structural (leaf-area index, basal area, stem density, tree height, Huber value (HV) and aboveground biomass) and functional (aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP)) attributes of seven woodland sites differing in DGW. We also used ∂13C analysis of sapwood across six sites, along with observed non-linear changes in structural attributes, to infer groundwater use by trees. Significant differences in structural attributes and ANPP were observed across sites. The three shallowest sites with 2.4 m, 4.3 m and 5.5 m DWG had significantly larger aboveground biomass and ANPP than did the four deepest sites (DGW ≥9.8 m). Across all attributes (except HV in the summer, where the mean values were significantly larger at sites where DGW was 5.5 m or less and across the four deeper sites (DGW ≥9.8 m), there were no differences in these three structural traits, nor in ANPP. Despite finding no significant differences in HV across sites in the summer, in winter, the two deepest sites had a significantly larger HV than did the two shallowest sites. Significant increases in ∂13C of sapwood occurred across five of the six sites, consistent with increasing water-use efficiency as DGW increased, reflecting the declining availability of groundwater with increasing DGW. This study has demonstrated that even in a mesic environment, putative access to groundwater can have important impacts on structural and functional traits of trees and, consequently, on woodland productivity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
SASIWIMOL RINNAMANG ◽  
KAMPANART SIRIRUEANG ◽  
SORAVIS SUPAVETCH ◽  
PONTHEP MEUNPONG

Abstract. Rinnamang S, Sirirueang K, Supavetch S, Meunpong P. 2020. Estimation of aboveground biomass using aerial photogrammetry from unmanned aerial vehicles in teak (Tectona grandis) plantation in Thailand. Biodiversitas 21: 2369-2376. Thailand is one of the best teak planting locations in the world. Teak is one of the most species planting and a significant source of high-value timber in Thailand. For plantation management, biomass is one of the important factors while determining the production of a plantation and also for sustainable forest management. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have the ability to produce 3D RGB digital images which can be used to study the plantation characteristics. This study aimed to use aerial images and photogrammetry techniques derived from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to estimate teak biomass in Thong Pha Phum plantation, Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. We conducted our study on 15-and 36-year-old teak stands, and compared the tree dimension between data obtained from field measurement and that from aerial images and photogrammetry techniques. In the 15-year-old stand, the average tree height estimated from the UAV and ground-truthing were 12.34 and 13.06 m, respectively. In the 36-year-old stand, the average tree height from the UAV and ground-truthing were 28.87 and 29.39 m, respectively. We found that in both stands, the difference between data generated from the UAV and ground-truthing data was not significant (p-value = 0.07 and 0.306, respectively). There was also a strong correspondence between tree height estimated from the UAV and that measured on the ground which is indicated by the high R2 (i.e. 0.70 and 0.64 for the 15-and 36-year-old stands, respectively). Using UAV generated data, the total biomass of 15-and 36-year-old stands was estimated to be around 42.07 t ha-1 and 67.13 t ha-1, respectively. The overall results suggest that UAV can be used as an effective tool to survey and monitor stand’s productivity in teak plantation.


Author(s):  
R. Fang

Lidar has been widely used in tree aboveground biomass (AGB) estimation at plot or stand levels. Lidar-based AGB models are usually constructed with the ground AGB reference as the response variable and lidar canopy indices as predictor variables. Tree diameter at breast height (dbh) is the major variable of most allometric models for estimating reference AGB. However, lidar measurements are mainly related to tree vertical structure. Therefore, tree height-dbh allometric model residuals are expected to have a large impact on lidar-based AGB model performance. This study attempts to investigate sensitivity of lidar-based AGB model to the decreasing strength of height-dbh relationship using a Monte Carlo simulation approach. Striking decrease in <i>R</i><sup>2</sup> and increase in relative RMSE were found in lidar-based AGB model, as the variance of height-dbh model residuals grew. I, therefore, concluded that individual tree height-dbh model residuals fundamentally introduce errors to lidar-AGB models.


2008 ◽  
Vol 54 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 109-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Cienciala ◽  
J. Apltauer ◽  
Z. Exnerová ◽  
F. Tatarinov

This study describes the parameterization of biomass functions applicable to oak (<I>Quercus robur, Quercus petraea</I>) trees grown in the conditions of Central-European forestry. It is based on destructive measurements of 51 grown trees sampled from 6 sites in different regions of the Czech Republic important for oak forest management. The samples covered trees of breast height diameter (<I>D</I>) ranging from 6 to 59 cm, tree height (<I>H</I>) from 6 to 32 m and age between 12 and 152 years. The parameterization was performed for total aboveground biomass and its individual components. The two basic levels of biomass functions utilized <I>D</I> either as a single independent variable or in combination with <I>H</I>. The functions of the third level represented the best function for each biomass component with the optimal combination of available independent variables, which included <I>D, H</I>, crown length (<I>CL</I>), crown width (<I>CW</I>), crown ratio (<I>CR = CL/H</I>), tree age and site altitude. <I>D</I> was found to be a particularly strong predictor for total tree aboveground biomass. <I>H</I> was found to always improve the fit, particularly for the individual components of aboveground biomass. The contribution of <I>CW</I> was minor, but significant for all biomass components, whereas <I>CL</I> and <I>CR</I> were found useful for the components of stem and living branches, respectively. Finally, the remaining variables tree age and altitude were each justified only for one component function, namely living branch biomass and stem bark, respectively. The study also compares the fitted functions with other available references applicable to oak trees.


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