Above-Ground Biomass Models of Caragana korshinskii and Sophora viciifolia in the Loess Plateau, China

Yanxing Dou, Yang Yang and Shaoshan An
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Yanxing Dou: State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China
Yang Yang: College of Resource and Environment, Northwest Agriculture & Forest University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China
Shaoshan An: State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Water Resources, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: The quantification of above-ground biomass is based on the calculation of carbon storage, which is important for the balance of carbon cycling. However, the allometric models of shrubs for calculating the above-ground biomass of shrubs in the Loess Plateau are scarce. In order to solve this issue, this study analyzed some highly correlated variables, including height (H), branch diameters (D), canopy volume (C v ), canopy area (C a ), and then built a regression model to predict the above-ground biomass in two common shrubs ( Caragana korshinskii and Sophora viciifolia ) in the Loess Plateau, China. The results show that the above-ground biomass of these two shrubs can be accurately predicted by H and D, and then we can use allometric model ( y = a x b ) to calculate shrub above-ground biomass (including leaf biomass and branch biomass). Furthermore, the correlation between leaf biomass and branch biomass in Caragana korshinskii and Sophora viciifolia indicates that the components of above-ground biomass are closely related to each other. In addition, there is a strong linear relationship ( p < 0.01) between the observed and estimated biomass values, which confirms the data accuracy of the above-ground biomass estimation models. In summary, these two biomass estimation models provide an accurate way to estimate the quantification of carbon for shrubs in the Loess Plateau.

Keywords: two common shrubs; biomass equations; Loess Plateau (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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