Skip Navigation


Forestry Advance Access originally published online on August 3, 2006
Forestry 2006 79(4):477-487; doi:10.1093/forestry/cpl028
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
79/4/477    most recent
cpl028v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Zianis, D.
Right arrow Articles by Radoglou, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© Institute of Chartered Foresters, 2006. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Comparison between empirical and theoretical biomass allometric models and statistical implications for stem volume predictions

Dimitris Zianis and Kalliopi Radoglou*

Forest Research Institute, National Agricultural Research Foundation, Vassilika 57006, Thessaloniki, Greece

*Corresponding author. E-mail: radoglou{at}fri.gr

Comparisons between empirical and theoretical allometric models for estimating tree biomass and the statistical caveats attached to empirical stem volume equations are presented in this paper. First, the elastic and stress similarity models, derived from first biomechanical principles, as well as predictions obtained from geometric similitude, were validated against allometric equations that relate dry above-ground tree biomass M to stem diameter D. In addition, a recent geometric model which predicts that M {propto} D8/3 was also validated against a pooled dataset which consisted of 764 M-D pairs compiled from empirical studies conducted throughout the globe and for several tree species. Moreover, 59 empirical equations which relate M to D were selected from a European database to validate the aforementioned theoretical models. The analysis indicated that the biomechanical and the geometric models failed to describe the shape in M-D allometry for the empirical datasets. Finally, the multicollinearity problem, which is directly related to the reliability of the predictions, was analysed for stem volume equations (V). In total, 23 empirical models based on the six-parameter formula V = a + bD + cD2 + dD3 + eH + fD2H were used in order to pinpoint the dependency between the parameters. It is illustrated that parameters a, b and c are highly related to each other, and parameter e is also related to parameter f. It is concluded that the interrelationship between D and stem height (H) could be one of the reasons for this dependency and scepticism should be placed in the reliability of V estimates derived from these models.

Received 18 May 2006.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.