Articles | Volume 13, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-1571-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-1571-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Mar 2016
Research article |
| 14 Mar 2016
Closing a gap in tropical forest biomass estimation: taking crown mass variation into account in pantropical allometries
Pierre Ploton
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR-AMAP, Montpellier,
France
Institut des sciences et industries du vivant et de l'environnement,
Montpellier, France
Nicolas Barbier
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR-AMAP, Montpellier,
France
Stéphane Takoudjou Momo
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR-AMAP, Montpellier,
France
Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d'Ecologie, Département
des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de
Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Maxime Réjou-Méchain
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR-AMAP, Montpellier,
France
Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour
le développement, Montpellier, France
Geomatics and Applied Informatics Laboratory (LIAG), French Institute of
Pondicherry, Puducherry, India
Faustin Boyemba Bosela
Faculté des Sciences, Université de Kisangani, Kisangani,
Democratic Republic of Congo
Georges Chuyong
Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, University of Buea, Buea,
Cameroon
Gilles Dauby
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR-DIADE, Montpellier,
France
Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, Faculté des Sciences,
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Vincent Droissart
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR-AMAP, Montpellier,
France
Herbarium et Bibliothèque de Botanique africaine, Université
Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Adeline Fayolle
Research axis on Forest Resource Management of the Biosystem
engineering (BIOSE), Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Université de Liège,
Gembloux, Belgium
Rosa Calisto Goodman
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, USA
Matieu Henry
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy
Narcisse Guy Kamdem
Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d'Ecologie, Département
des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de
Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon
John Katembo Mukirania
Faculté des Sciences, Université de Kisangani, Kisangani,
Democratic Republic of Congo
David Kenfack
Center for Tropical Forest Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
Moses Libalah
Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d'Ecologie, Département
des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de
Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Alfred Ngomanda
Institut de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale, Libreville, Gabon
Vivien Rossi
Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour
le développement, Montpellier, France
Département d'Informatique, Université de Yaoundé I, UMMISCO, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Bonaventure Sonké
Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d'Ecologie, Département
des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de
Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Nicolas Texier
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR-AMAP, Montpellier,
France
Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d'Ecologie, Département
des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de
Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Duncan Thomas
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University,
Corvallis, USA
Donatien Zebaze
Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d'Ecologie, Département
des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de
Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon
Pierre Couteron
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR-AMAP, Montpellier,
France
Uta Berger
Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Environmental Sciences,
Institute of Forest Growth and Forest Computer Sciences, Tharandt, Germany
Raphaël Pélissier
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR-AMAP, Montpellier,
France
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Short summary
Monitoring forest carbon stocks requires understanding how resources allocation within trees varies across tree size, species and environmental conditions. Using data on tree dimensions and mass, we show that the average tree shape varies along ontogeny, with large canopy trees having a greater proportion of carbon in their crowns (up to 50 %). This variation pattern generates important bias in carbon predictions at both tree and stand levels, which can be corrected using simple crown metrics.
Monitoring forest carbon stocks requires understanding how resources allocation within trees...
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