Allometric Equations for Estimating Biomass of Euterpe precatoria, the Most Abundant Palm Species in the Amazon

Forests

Fernando Da Silva³  Rempei Suwa⁴  Takuya Kajimoto¹  Moriyoshi Ishizuka¹  Niro Higuchi³  Norbert Kunert³  Michael Battaglia² 

[1] Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8687, Japan; E-Mails:Brazilian National Institute for Research in the Amazon, Laboratory for Forest Management, Manaus 69.060-000, Brazil;;Brazilian National Institute for Research in the Amazon, Laboratory for Forest Management, Manaus 69.060-000, Brazil; E-Mails:;Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Kansai Research Center, 68 Nagaikyutaroh, Momoyama, Fushimi, Kyoto 612-0855, Japan

关键词: Açaí;    Arecaceae;    biomass;    carbon stocks;    dimension analysis;    terra-firme;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f6020450

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Allometric models to estimate biomass components such as stem mass M_s, foliage mass M_l, root mass M_r and aboveground mass M_a, were developed for the palm species Euterpe precatoria Mart., which is the most abundant tree species in the Amazon. We harvested twenty palms including above- and below-ground parts in an old growth Amazonian forest in Brazil. The diameter at breast height D ranged from 3.9–12.7 cm, and the stem height H ranged from 2.3–16.4 m. The D, diameter at ground basis D₀, crown diameter CD, H, stem specific gravity ρ, and number of fronds N_f were considered as independent variables and incorporated into a power function model. The best predictors were D²Hρ for M_s and M_a, D²HN_f for M_l, and D for M_r. Slender index (H/D) ranged from 0.56–1.46 m·cm⁻¹, and the D-H relationship suggested that the stem shape becomes more slender with increasing D. On the other hand, ρ increased with D implying a stiffening of stem tissue. The average root/shoot ratio was estimated as 0.29 which was higher than that reported for the non-palm tree species in the Amazon. Comparisons of several models to estimate M_a of different palm species, suggested that the variations of the D-H relationship and ρ should be considered to develop allometric models for estimating biomass in palm species. In particular the ρ largely varied depending on individual size, which should be important to consider, when developing the allometric models for palms.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.