Testing the generality of above-ground biomass allometry across plant functional types at the continent scale

Accurate ground‐based estimation of the carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems is critical to quantifying the global carbon budget. Allometric models provide cost‐effective methods for biomass prediction. But do such models vary with ecoregion or plant functional type? We compiled 15 054 measuremen...

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Published in:	Global change biology Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 2106 - 2124
Main Authors:	Paul, Keryn I., Roxburgh, Stephen H., Chave, Jerome, England, Jacqueline R., Zerihun, Ayalsew, Specht, Alison, Lewis, Tom, Bennett, Lauren T., Baker, Thomas G., Adams, Mark A., Huxtable, Dan, Montagu, Kelvin D., Falster, Daniel S., Feller, Mike, Sochacki, Stan, Ritson, Peter, Bastin, Gary, Bartle, John, Wildy, Dan, Hobbs, Trevor, Larmour, John, Waterworth, Rob, Stewart, Hugh T.L., Jonson, Justin, Forrester, David I., Applegate, Grahame, Mendham, Daniel, Bradford, Matt, O'Grady, Anthony, Green, Daryl, Sudmeyer, Rob, Rance, Stan J., Turner, John, Barton, Craig, Wenk, Elizabeth H., Grove, Tim, Attiwill, Peter M., Pinkard, Elizabeth, Butler, Don, Brooksbank, Kim, Spencer, Beren, Snowdon, Peter, O'Brien, Nick, Battaglia, Michael, Cameron, David M, Hamilton, Steve, McAuthur, Geoff, Sinclair, Jenny
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2016
Subjects:	above ground Australia Biomass Carbon Carbon Sequestration Climate change density destructive diameter Ecosystem Eucalyptus Eucalyptus - growth & development Forests height Models, Biological multi-stemmed Plant ecology Plant Stems - growth & development shrubs Terrestrial ecosystems Trees - growth & development Wood - growth & development Eucalyptus above ground density diameter shrubs multi-stemmed destructive height
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Summary:	Accurate ground‐based estimation of the carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems is critical to quantifying the global carbon budget. Allometric models provide cost‐effective methods for biomass prediction. But do such models vary with ecoregion or plant functional type? We compiled 15 054 measurements of individual tree or shrub biomass from across Australia to examine the generality of allometric models for above‐ground biomass prediction. This provided a robust case study because Australia includes ecoregions ranging from arid shrublands to tropical rainforests, and has a rich history of biomass research, particularly in planted forests. Regardless of ecoregion, for five broad categories of plant functional type (shrubs; multistemmed trees; trees of the genus Eucalyptus and closely related genera; other trees of high wood density; and other trees of low wood density), relationships between biomass and stem diameter were generic. Simple power‐law models explained 84–95% of the variation in biomass, with little improvement in model performance when other plant variables (height, bole wood density), or site characteristics (climate, age, management) were included. Predictions of stand‐based biomass from allometric models of varying levels of generalization (species‐specific, plant functional type) were validated using whole‐plot harvest data from 17 contrasting stands (range: 9–356 Mg ha−1). Losses in efficiency of prediction were <1% if generalized models were used in place of species‐specific models. Furthermore, application of generalized multispecies models did not introduce significant bias in biomass prediction in 92% of the 53 species tested. Further, overall efficiency of stand‐level biomass prediction was 99%, with a mean absolute prediction error of only 13%. Hence, for cost‐effective prediction of biomass across a wide range of stands, we recommend use of generic allometric models based on plant functional types. Development of new species‐specific models is only warranted when gains in accuracy of stand‐based predictions are relatively high (e.g. high‐value monocultures).
Bibliography:	istex:E92847021D86997EAE8944AED1F1D1DC57C1510E Table S1 Number of individuals obtained for each plant functional type from various sources. Table S2. Empirical relationships used to 'gap fill' missing D and H measurements using the equation Y = c + d X, where X may be D (cm) or H (m). Table S3. The fitted coefficient (and their standard errors) and fit statistics of each of the 53 species in the dataset that had N > 50, and thus, for which species-specific allometric models for AGBIndiv of the form given in Eq. could be developed. Fig S1 Diagram depicting the categorization of vegetation into five categories of functional type, and how these were further subdivided into subcategories and species in order to assess four levels of generalization of allometric models of AGB; (i) universal (AllUniversal), (ii) functional type (FShrub, FMulti, FEuc, FOther-H and FOther-L), (iii) functional type subcategory (FShrub_A, FShrub_B, FMulti_A, FMulti_B, FEuc_A, FEuc_B, FOther-H_A, FOther-H_B, FOther-H_C, FOther-L_A, FOther-L_B, and FOther-L_C), and (iv) species, of which only 53 species of the 274 studied were adequately sampled (i.e. N > 50). ark:/67375/WNG-T8MV1R36-X ArticleID:GCB13201 Department of the Environment, Australia ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1354-1013 1365-2486
DOI:	10.1111/gcb.13201