Methods to estimate aboveground wood productivity from long-term forest inventory plots

Talbot, Joey; Lewis, Simon L.; Lopez‐Gonzalez, Gabriela; Brienen, Roel J. W.; Monteagudo, Abel; Baker, Timothy R.; Feldpausch, Ted R.; Malhi, Yadvinder; Vanderwel, Mark C.; Murakami, Alejandro Araujo; Arroyo, Luzmila; Chao, Kuo-Jung; Erwin, Terry L.; Heijden, Geertje M. F. van der; Keeling, Helen; Killeen, Tim J.; Neill, David; Vargas, Percy Núñez; Gutierrez, Germaine Alexander Parada; Pitman, Nigel C. A.; Quesada, Carlos Alberto; Silveira, Marcos; Stropp, Juliana; Phillips, Oliver L.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2014.02.021

Cited by 84 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Total woody stem productivity was calculated as the sum of biomass growth and biomass recruitment. Due to the short census periods (∼4 mo for the dry season and ∼8 mo for the wet season), we assumed that we measured all recruitment and mortality events, and thus did not correct our stem productivity estimates for lianas or trees that might have recruited and subsequently died unobserved within a census period (38). To convert biomass estimates from Mg dry mass to Mg C, we used species-specific wood carbon fraction values for 27% of the tree stems, and an average wood carbon fraction of 47.35% for the remainder of the trees and for the lianas (18).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lianas reduce carbon accumulation and storage in tropical forests

Heijden

Powers

Schnitzer

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

167

136

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Tropical forests store vast quantities of carbon, account for onethird of the carbon fixed by photosynthesis, and are a major sink in the global carbon cycle. Recent evidence suggests that competition between lianas (woody vines) and trees may reduce forest-wide carbon uptake; however, estimates of the impact of lianas on carbon dynamics of tropical forests are crucially lacking. Here we used a large-scale liana removal experiment and found that, at 3 y after liana removal, lianas reduced net above-ground carbon uptake (growth and recruitment minus mortality) by ∼76% per year, mostly by reducing tree growth. The loss of carbon uptake due to lianainduced mortality was four times greater in the control plots in which lianas were present, but high variation among plots prevented a significant difference among the treatments. Lianas altered how aboveground carbon was stored. In forests where lianas were present, the partitioning of forest aboveground net primary production was dominated by leaves (53.2%, compared with 39.2% in liana-free forests) at the expense of woody stems (from 28.9%, compared with 43.9%), resulting in a more rapid return of fixed carbon to the atmosphere. After 3 y of experimental liana removal, our results clearly demonstrate large differences in carbon cycling between forests with and without lianas. Combined with the recently reported increases in liana abundance, these results indicate that lianas are an important and increasing agent of change in the carbon dynamics of tropical forests.L ianas (woody vines) are a key component of lowland tropical forests, commonly contributing more than 25% of the woody stems and species and competing intensely with trees. By relying on the structural investment of trees for support, lianas are able to allocate a higher proportion of biomass than trees into the production of foliage rather than carbon-dense stems (1). Thus, lianas themselves contribute relatively little to forest-level biomass (1, 2). The ecological effects of lianas may be more extensive than their relatively modest contribution to biomass suggests, however. Liana-tree competition can be far more intense than tree-tree competition (3), substantially reducing tree growth (2, 4), fecundity (5, 6), and survival (4, 7). Furthermore, lianas may constrain net above-ground forest primary productivity, i.e., the total amount of carbon fixed into both canopy material (leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds) and woody stems (8), by failing to compensate for the biomass that they displace in trees (1, 2).Recent evidence indicates that lianas are now increasing in abundance and biomass in tropical forests, possibly being driven by a combination of increased atmospheric CO 2 concentration, changing climatic conditions, and seasonal droughts, as well as increased natural and anthropogenic disturbances (9, 10). The increase in lianas, combined with the observations that lianas can reduce individual tree growth by up to 84% (11) and increase tree mortality risk twofold to threefold (4, 7), has made it pertin...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lianas reduce carbon accumulation and storage in tropical forests

Heijden

Powers

Schnitzer

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

167

136

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…While there has been much debate and exploration of the analytical methods for calculating biomass, the methods used to determine rates of wood production have not been evaluated to the same degree [13] [14] [15] [16]. This affects assessment of ecosystem fluxes and may have wider implications if inventory data are used to parameterize biosphere models, or scaled to large areas in carbon sequestration assessment [17]. Tropical forests are highly diverse ecosystems that play a key role in the global carbon cycle [1] [8] [18] [19] [20] [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tree Biomass Estimation in Central African Forests Using Allometric Models

Ekoungoulou¹,

Nzala²,

Liu³

et al. 2018

OJE

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Quantifying the tropical forests' carbon stocks is presently an important component in the implementation of the emerging carbon credit market mechanisms. This calls for appropriate allometric equations predicting biomass which currently are scarce. In this study, we aimed to estimate above-and below-ground biomass and carbon stocks of trees, and to identify the variation in diameter-height allometry of Ipendja mixed terra firme lowland tropical forest's trees. The study area is located at Ipendja forest management unit (UFA), close to Dongou district (Likouala Department), in Northern Republic of Congo. This study combined forest inventory data of 1340 trees recorded from eight studied plots distributed in two sites, respectively Mokelimwaekili (i.e., Old-growth forest) and Sombo (i.e., Selective logging forest). Trees measurements were done with rectangular plots, each 25 × 200 m (i.e., 0.5 ha, 5000 m 2 ). In eight studied plots (4 plots per site), only trees with DBH ≥ 10 cm were measured and identified. 1340 trees founded were belonged 145 species and 36 botanical families (n = 733 and n = 607, for Sombo and Mokelimwaekili respectively). The analyses were conducted using allometric method for aboveground biomass (AGB) and belowground biomass (BGB) estimations. The results showed that in Ipendja forest ecosystem the mean biomass is built up for AGB (346 Mg·ha ). By this study, Ipendja forest ecosystem has clearly variations on the diameter-height relationship and biomass across the plots and the sites.

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“…Soil also contains substantial amount of carbon (Lal, 2005;Kumar et al, 2006). Forest inventories have often been used as starting points for the estimation of biomass and carbon storage in natural forests (Talbot et al, 2014). Often, biomass equations have been developed on the basis of forest inventory data (Segura & Kanninen, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation and Mapping of Carbon Stocks in Bosomkese Forest Reserve

Donkor¹,

Osei²,

Prah³

et al. 2016

International Journal of Remote Sensing Applications

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Biomass estimation has become a critical element in global environmental studies, because the change in biomass is deemed as an important component of climate change. The aim of this research is to estimate and map carbon stocks in Bosomkese forest reserve using remote sensing, GIS applications and field measurement method. Out of the six carbon pools of terrestrial ecosystem involving biomass (aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, deadwood, non tree, litter and soil organic matter), carbon sequestration of three (aboveground, belowground and deadwood) were assessed. Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) image acquired in 2010 was classified using Erdas Imagine. Total of five land use/cover classes were identified; Closed canopy natural forest, open canopy natural forest, plantation, farmland and fallow land. Diameter at breast height and total height of standing trees as well as the end diameters and the length of downed deadwood were measured in fifty sample plots in the five land use classes. These measurements were converted into aboveground carbon (AGC), belowground carbon (BGC) and deadwood carbon (DWC) using allometric equations developed in 2012 by Forest Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG). Total carbon for each plot was the summation of AGC, BGC and DWC. This research showed that closed canopy natural forest (1748.37 ton/Ha) contained more carbon than the rest of the land use/cover classes. This was followed by open canopy natural forest (1164.12 ton/Ha), plantation (775 ton/Ha), fallow land (110.69 ton/Ha) and farmland (45.13 ton/Ha) in descending order of total carbon stocks. The carbon/carbon dioxide equivalent values together with the plots coordinates were used to generate carbon stock and carbon dioxide equivalent map using Geostatistics tool of ArcGIS 10.0. The total carbon stock for the whole Bosomkese forest is in the range of 2,236,938.90 -2,865,148.33 tons and carbon dioxide equivalent in the range of 8,534,225.45 -10,507,952.05 tons.

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Methods to estimate aboveground wood productivity from long-term forest inventory plots

Cited by 84 publications

References 34 publications

Lianas reduce carbon accumulation and storage in tropical forests

Lianas reduce carbon accumulation and storage in tropical forests

Tree Biomass Estimation in Central African Forests Using Allometric Models

Estimation and Mapping of Carbon Stocks in Bosomkese Forest Reserve

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