Species-specific and generalized allometric equations for improving aboveground biomass estimations of thirty-three understory woody species in northeastern China forest ecosystems

Abstract

Understory small trees and shrubs play a crucial role in the biogeochemical cycles in forest ecosystems. However, their biomass in northeastern China is still uncertain and has been heavily disregarded due to the limited number of available allometric equations. For this study, 782 plants from 33 species obtained by destructive method were used to develop species-specific and generalized aboveground allometric biomass equations based on collar diameter (D) and height (H) using weighted nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression. Each biomass component was shown to be well predicted by D alone, with R2 adj values mostly greater than 0.80. The majority of species performed better in the models for wood and aboveground biomass when H was included as D2H. Furthermore, generalized equations for the two components showed a comparatively large coefficient of variation (CV) but comparable Bias to species-specific equations, espe-cially for small trees. It is recommended to estimate biomass using generalized equations for mixed species only when species-specific equations are unavailable at a given site. However, in the event when precision is not the primary con-cern, generalized equations are also suggested. The developed equations will help to improve the accuracy of biomass assessment of understory woody plants in northeastern China forest ecosystems.