TITLE:
Total Volume and Aboveground Biomass Models for Juniperus procera Plantation in Wondo Genet, Southern Ethiopia
AUTHORS:
Tekleweini Gereslassie, Ababo Workineh, Goitom Takele, Muhamed Adem, Leakemariam Berhe
KEYWORDS:
Biomass Expansion Factor, Biomass Models, Total Volume Models, Juniperus procera
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Forestry,
Vol.9 No.2,
March
20,
2019
ABSTRACT: Species specific allometric
equations are important for estimation and quantification of net volume and
aboveground biomass of living trees. This study was basically focused on fitting total volume and aboveground
biomass models for Juniperus procera plantations in Wondo Genet, Sidama Zone, Ethiopia. Data for fitting the total
volume and aboveground biomass models were obtained by destructively sampling
of trees from the ten diameter classes of the Juniperus procera plantation in the study area. A total of one
hundred ten and fifty-one trees were destructively sampled to fit six total
volume and six aboveground biomass models respectively. After important
measurements of parameters have completed, model performance evaluation and
selecting of best fit models were
undertaken using standard error of estimates (SEE), coefficient of
determination (R2), bias (B) and mean of the absolute value of
errors (MAE). Accordingly, the total volume model Vt = -5.466 + 0.959Dbh0.005H003 and aboveground biomass model of B = 0.348Dbh0.57H0.032 were found to be the
best predictive models for total tree volume and aboveground biomass
respectively. In addition to the above results, diameter at breast height and total tree height
data obtained from 69 circular sample plots of 0.01 ha area drawn from the
plantation were used to estimate the total volume and aboveground biomass per
hectare BEF which was estimated to be 0.64 Mg/m3. Generally, the selected models and computed BEF in this study
are believed to be applied by different organisations and researches to
estimate the total volume and aboveground biomass of the J. procera.