Comparability of Scots pine

biomass functions in Baltic

and Nordic countries

Gintaras Kulbokas, Andrius Kuliešis

Lithuanian State Forest Service web: http://www.amvmt.lt

The Nordic-Baltic-EFINORD Co-operation group for forest inventory.

Mariehamn, 02/03 09 2015

Aleksandras Stulginskis University web: http://www.asu.lt

Reliable tree biomass data provided by different

sources is one of the most important prerequisites for:

successful forestry efficiency analysis,

planning of sustainable forest resources use,

comparable carbon budget estimation and monitoring in forest.

The data of study can be used for:

analysis of tree biomass data provided by European NFI (project SC13),

improvement of European Dynamics Model EFDM (SC14, SC15),

development of compatible set of biomass equations (Diabolo Task T2.2)

2

Relevance of aboveground biomass functions

comparability

The goal of the study is

to evaluate the comparability

of Scots pine trees

aboveground biomass

and its components,

estimated by

various tree level functions,

which can be used in NFI of

Nordic and Baltic countries

http://www.eea.europa.eu 3

The goal of study

4

Tree AGB

Aboveground tree biomass structure

used in study

Crown Stem

Stem wood Stem bark Green

branches

Dead

branches

Foliage

(leaves, needles)

Crown Stem

5

Biomass functions used for study

Biomass of

Albrektso

n et al.,

1984

Briggs &

Cunia,

1982 (1)

Briggs &

Cunia,

1983 (2)

Hakkila,

1991

Korhonen &

Maltamo,

1990

Mäkelä &

Vanninen,

1998

Marklund,

1988 (1)

Marklund,

1989 (2)

Miksys et

al., 2007

Repola et

al., 2007 Total

Sweden Finland Finland Finland Finland Finland Sweden Sweden Lithuania Finland

Stem wood SW D, H D D D, H D, H D, H 6

Stem bark SB D, H D, H D D D, H D, H D, H 7

Total stem ST D, H D D, H D, H 4

SST=SW+SB x x x 3

Green branches BR D, H D D, H D D, H D, H 6

Needles NE D, H D D D D D D, H D, H D, H 9

Dead branches DB D D D, H D, H D, H 5

Total crown CR D D, H D D* D, H* D, H 6

SCR=BR+NE+DB x x 2

Total

aboveground AB D D D D, H 4

SAB=ST+CR+DB x x x x 4

Independent variables of functions: D- tree DBH, H- tree height.

SST, SCR, SAB – biomass estimated by summary of separate tree part biomass.

* - total crown biomass was corrected adding biomass of dead branches.

47 various tree level functions (10 publications) from 3 countries were used for study.

Data for comparison - 39 495 Scots pine trees

from 2 500 permanent sample plots

of Lithuanian NFI 2010-2014

Study object – all pine trees in all forest stands of Lithuania

stand area - 2 103 000 ha (34% of country area)

mean growing stock volume in all stands 251 m3/ha

in Scots pine stands 320 m3/ha

share of pine 32,4% of total stand area

36,6% of total growing stock volume

6

The data used for comparison

7

1. Comparison of predicted biomass

for mean tree in Scots pine stands

of Lithuania

Age class* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Height, m 1.7 7.1 11.2 16.1 18.9 21.5 22.9 23.4 25.0 25.5 25.6 25.7 26.3 26.2

DBH , cm 1.2 8.1 13.0 18.2 19.1 22.2 24.7 25.7 28.5 28.8 30.5 30.9 33.6 34.0

Mean data in Scots pine stands. NFI 2014

* 2 age class consist of 11-21 years old stands

8

The estimation of biomass for mean tree in

Scots pine stands

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Age classes

0

10

20

30

40

Green branches

Needles

0

10

20

Dead branches

Albrektson Briggs, 1 Briggs, 2

Hakkila Mäkelä Marklund, 1

Marklund, 2 Mikšys Repola

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Bio

ma

ss, k

g d

m / t

ree

Age classes

Total crown

biomass

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Bio

ma

ss

, k

g d

m / t

ree

Age classes

9

The estimation of biomass for mean tree in

Scots pine stands

0

50

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Stem bark

0

100

200

300

400

500

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Age classes

Stem wood

Total stem

biomass

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Bio

ma

ss, k

g d

m / t

ree

Age classes

10

The estimation of biomass for mean tree in

Scots pine stands Age class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Height, m 1.7 7.1 11.2 16.1 18.9 21.5 22.9 23.4 25.0 25.5 25.6 25.7 26.3 26.2

DBH , cm 1.2 8.1 13.0 18.2 19.1 22.2 24.7 25.7 28.5 28.8 30.5 30.9 33.6 34.0

Total aboveground biomass

Selected

functions

2. Loess analysis of differences between

biomass estimations for Scots pine trees

measured in all stands

Selected biomass functions:

Briggs and Cunia, 1982

Korhonen and Maltamo, 1990

Marclund, 1988, 1989

Mikšys et al., 2007

Repola et al., 2007

11

The differences of tree crown biomass predicted by

various functions comparing with LT estimation.

Loess analysis

12

Dif

fere

nc

e, k

g d

m / t

ree

Biomass LT (Mikšys), kg dm / tree

The differences of tree stem biomass predicted by

various functions comparing with LT estimation.

Loess analysis

13

Biomass LT (Mikšys), kg dm / tree

Dif

fere

nc

e, k

g d

m / t

ree

The differences of aboveground tree biomass

predicted by various functions comparing with LT

estimation. Loess analysis

14

Dif

fere

nc

e, k

g d

m / t

ree

Biomass LT (Mikšys), kg dm / tree

The differences of biomass predicted by various

functions comparing with LT estimation

(Loess curves) Green branches Dead branches Needles

Stem bark Stem wood Total aboveground

15

3. Estimation of biomass difference

by DBH, age and site index H100

16

The mean tree biomass differences comparing

with LT estimation by tree DBH

Crown

(needles+branches)

Stem

(bark+wood)

Total aboveground

-100

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

≤6 6.1--14 14.1--26 26.1--38 38>

Me

an

dif

fere

nce

fro

m L

T

(Mik

šys

), %

-100

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

≤6 6.1--14 14.1--26 26.1--38 38>

DBH, cm

-100

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80

100

≤6 6.1--14 14.1--26 26.1--38 38>

Me

an

dif

fere

nce

fro

m L

T

(Mik

šys

), %

DBH, cm

17

The mean tree biomass differences comparing

with LT estimation by tree age

Crown

(needles+branches)

Stem

(bark+wood)

Total aboveground

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

Mean

dif

fere

nce f

rom

LT

(M

ikšys),

%

Age, years

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

Mean

dif

fere

nce f

rom

LT

(M

ikšys

), %

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

Age, years

18

The mean tree biomass differences comparing

with LT estimation by site index H100

Crown

(needles+branches)

Stem

(bark+wood)

Total aboveground

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

≤20 20.1--25 25.1--30 30>

Dif

fere

nce f

rom

LT

(M

ikšys),

%

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

≤20 20.1--25 25.1--30 30>

H100, cm

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

≤20 20.1--25 25.1--30 30>

Dif

fere

nce f

rom

LT

(M

ikšys),

%

H100, cm

19

78 77 76

70

61

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

17

15 14

14

11

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

The prediction of total crown and stem biomass

in Lithuania by various functions

Crown biomass Stem biomass

Briggs, 1 Marklund, 1 Marklund, 2

Repola Korhonen Marklund, 1

Marklund, 2 Repola

Mikšys Mikšys

1.96 × standard error

To

tal

bio

mass

, M

t d

m

20

The prediction of total Scots pine tree

aboveground biomass in Lithuania

Total

aboveground

biomass

Briggs, 1

Marklund, 2

Marklund, 1

Repola

93

89

84 81

75

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

Mikšys

1.96 × standard error

To

tal

bio

ma

ss,

Mt

dm

21

CONCLUSIONS

Differences of aboveground biomass of Scots pine, predicted

using functions of Briggs and Cunia, 1982; Korhonen and

Maltamo, 1990; Marklund, 1988, 1989; Repola et al., 2007 and

Lithuanian function (Mikšys et al., 2007) do not exceed 20 %.

The least differences of predicted biomass comparing with

predicted by Lithuanian function was received for stem

biomass functions of Marklund, 1989, (1%) and Korhonen and

Maltamo, 1990 (3%), for total aboveground biomass - by

functions of Marklund, 1989 (5%).

The bigger differences in biomass were defined for marginal

values of tree diameters (up to 14 and more than 38 cm) and

ages (up to 40 and more than 120 year).

22

Thank you!