Allometric models of Picea spp. biomass for airborne laser sensing as related to climate variables

Abstract

Over the past two decades, active airborne laser sensing technology has been intensively used to scan the forest cover, providing such morphometric indicators of trees as the width and projection area of the crown, the height of the tree. The author’s database of harvest data of 1550 model trees of genus Picea spp. of Eurasia is used in the work. Allometric models of biomass components, including the crown width, tree height, winter temperatures and precipitation as independent variables, are designed. The biomass of all components of equal-sized trees is described by the propeller-shaped 3D picture. In cold regions, when precipitation increases, the biomass decreases, but as one moves to cold regions, it is characterized by an opposite or neutral trend. As the temperature increases in humid regions, the biomass increases, but as the transition to dry conditions begins to decrease.