Premium
The spatial distribution of forest biomass in the Brazilian Amazon: a comparison of estimates
Author(s) -
Houghton R. A.,
Lawrence K. T.,
Hackler J. L.,
Brown Sandra
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2001.00426.x
Subject(s) - biomass (ecology) , environmental science , deforestation (computer science) , amazon rainforest , spatial distribution , tree allometry , forest inventory , atmospheric sciences , carbon cycle , spatial variability , physical geography , ecology , agroforestry , biomass partitioning , geography , ecosystem , remote sensing , forest management , mathematics , statistics , geology , biology , computer science , programming language
The amount of carbon released to the atmosphere as a result of deforestation is determined, in part, by the amount of carbon held in the biomass of the forests converted to other uses. Uncertainty in forest biomass is responsible for much of the uncertainty in current estimates of the flux of carbon from land‐use change. In the present contribution several estimates of forest biomass are compared for the Brazilian Amazon, based on spatial interpolations of direct measurements, relationships to climatic variables, and remote sensing data. Three questions were posed: First, do the methods yield similar estimates? Second, do they yield similar spatial patterns of distribution of biomass? And, third, what factors need most attention if we are to predict more accurately the distribution of forest biomass over large areas? The answer to the first two questions is that estimates of biomass for Brazil's Amazonian forests (including dead and belowground biomass) vary by more than a factor of two, from a low of 39 PgC to a high of 93 PgC. Furthermore, the estimates disagree as to the regions of high and low biomass. The lack of agreement among estimates confirms the need for reliable determination of aboveground biomass over large areas. Potential methods include direct measurement of biomass through forest inventories with improved allometric regression equations, dynamic modelling of forest recovery following observed stand‐replacing disturbances, and estimation of aboveground biomass from airborne or satellite‐based instruments sensitive to the vertical structure plant canopies.