Allometric equation for predicting aboveground biomass of three tree species

Allometric equations, which predict the aboveground dry biomass of a tree from its diameter and/or height, are needed to estimate carbon stocks in forests. Although pantropical multispecies biomass equations have been developed for tropical rain forests, very few tree biomass measurements are available for central Africa, and none of these measurements were used to fit the pantropical equations. We measured the biomass of 12 trees belonging to three species at Yangambi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Using these data, we developed a site-specific biomass equation and checked whether the pantropical equations were consistent with it. The pantropical equations were within the 95% confidence interval of the fitted site-specific equation, but with a bias for measurements that ranged from 26 to 32%. Although the pantropical biomass equations were consistent with the biomass measurements at Yangambi, larger data sets (including larger trees and more species) and more precise estimate of the wood specific gravity would be required to confirm the result.