Estimating Biomass and Biomass Change of Tropical Forests: a Primer. (FAO Forestry Paper - 134)













Table of Contents


by
Sandra Brown
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois, USA

A Forest Resources Assessment publication

FAO FORESTRY PAPER
134

FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Rome, 1997

Reprinted with corrections 1997

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M-35
ISBN 92-5-103955-0

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© FAO 1997

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Table of Contents


FOREWORD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 PREVIOUS ESTIMATES OF FOREST BIOMASS

2. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF PRIMER ON ESTIMATING BIOMASS

2.1 WHAT TREE FORMATIONS ARE INCLUDED?
2.2 WHAT IS BIOMASS?

3. METHODS FOR ESTIMATING BIOMASS DENSITY FROM EXISTING DATA

3.1 APPROACH 1: BIOMASS DENSITY BASED ON EXISTING VOLUME DATA

3.1.1 GENERAL EQUATION
3.1.2 VOLUME-WEIGHTED AVERAGE WOOD DENSITY (WD)
3.1.3 BIOMASS EXPANSION FACTOR (BEF)
3.1.4 EXAMPLES OF CALCULATIONS OF BIOMASS DENSITY
3.1.5 ADJUSTMENTS TO APPROACH USING VOLUME EXPANSION FACTORS (VEF)
3.1.6 USE OF INVENTORIES OF OPEN FORESTS AND WOODLANDS

3.2 APPROACH 2: BIOMASS DENSITY BASED ON STAND TABLES

3.2.1 BIOMASS REGRESSION EQUATIONS
3.2.3 PROBLEMS WITH REGRESSION APPROACH

3.3 BIOMASS ESTIMATES OF INDIVIDUAL
3.4 BIOMASS ESTIMATES FOR PLANTATIONS
3.5 BIOMASS OF OTHER FOREST COMPONENTS

4. PRIMARY DATA AD FIELD MEASUREMENT FOR BIOMASS ESTIMATION

4.1 IMPROVEMENTS IN FOREST INVENTORIES
4.2 FIELD MEASUREMENTS FOR DEVELOPING BIOMASS REGRESSION EQUATIONS

5. BIOMASS DENSITY ESTIMATES FOR DEVELOPING COUNTIES BASED ON EXISTING INVENTORIES

5.1 TROPICAL AFRICAN COUNTRIES
5.2 TROPICAL AMERICAN COUNTRIES
5.3 TROPICAL ASIAN COUNTRIES

6. BIOMASS ESTIMATES FROM GIS MODELING

6.1 GENERAL APPROACH
6.2 EXAMPLES OF RESULTS

7. FUTURE DIRECTIONS TO ESTIMATE BIOMASS CHANGE

7.1 BIOMASS CHANGE WITH FIELD STUDIES
7.2 BIOMASS CHANGE WITH REMOTE SENSING/FIELD STUDIES AND GIS MODELLING

8. REFERENCES

APPENDICES

Appendix 1 - List of wood densities for tree species from tropical America, Africa, and Asia.

Appendix 2 - Original biomass data used to develop the biomass regressions equations for broadleaf forests.

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