A universal approach to estimate biomass and carbon stock in tropical forests using generic allometric models

作者：Ghislain Vieilledent, R Vaudry, S. F. D. Andriamanohisoa, O. Sarobidy Rakotonarivo, Hasimboahirana Randrianasolo, H. N. Razafindrabe, C. Bidaud Rakotoarivony, Johannes Ebeling, M Rasamoelina · 发表于：Ecological Applications · 年份：2011 · DOI：10.1890/11-0039.1 · 被引用次数：228 · 研究领域：Forest ecology and management、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics

Allometric equations allow aboveground tree biomass and carbon stock to be estimated from tree size. The allometric scaling theory suggests the existence of a universal power-law relationship between tree biomass and tree diameter with a fixed scaling exponent close to 8/3. In addition, generic empirical models, like Chave's or Brown's models, have been proposed for tropical forests in America and Asia. These generic models have been used to estimate forest biomass and carbon worldwide. However, tree allometry depends on environmental and genetic factors that vary from region to region. Consequently, theoretical models that include too few ecological explicative variables or empirical generic models that have been calibrated at particular sites are unlikely to yield accurate tree biomass estimates at other sites. In this study, we based our analysis on a destructive sample of 481 trees in Madagascar spiny dry and moist forests characterized by a high rate of endemism (> 95%). We show that, among the available generic allometric models, Chave's model including diameter, height, and wood specific gravity as explicative variables for a particular forest type (dry, moist, or wet tropical forest) was the only one that gave accurate tree biomass estimates for Madagascar (R2 > 83%, bias < 6%), with estimates comparable to those obtained with regional allometric models. When biomass allometric models are not available for a given forest site, this result shows that a simple height-di...