Abstract
BackgroundLand use and land cover change occurring in tropical forest landscapes contributes substantially to carbon emissions. Better insights into the spatial variation of aboveground biomass is therefore needed. By means of multiple statistical tests, including geographically weighted regression, we analysed the effects of eight variables on the regional spatial variation of aboveground biomass. North and East Kalimantan were selected as the case study region; the third largest carbon emitting Indonesian provinces.ResultsStrong positive relationships were found between aboveground biomass and the tested variables; altitude, slope, land allocation zoning, soil type, and distance to the nearest fire, road, river and city. Furthermore, the results suggest that the regional spatial variation of aboveground biomass can be largely attributed to altitude, distance to nearest fire and land allocation zoning.ConclusionsOur study showed that in this landscape, aboveground biomass could not be explained by one single variable; the variables were interrelated, with altitude as the dominant variable. Spatial analyses should therefore integrate a variety of biophysical and anthropogenic variables to provide a better understanding of spatial variation in aboveground biomass. Efforts to minimise carbon emissions should incorporate the identified factors, by 1) the maintenance of lands with high AGB or carbon stocks, namely in the identified zones at the higher altitudes; and 2) regeneration or sustainable utilisation of lands with low AGB or carbon stocks, dependent on the regeneration capacity of the vegetation. Low aboveground biomass densities can be found in the lowlands in burned areas, and in non-forest zones and production forests.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13021-014-0008-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Land use and land cover change occurring in tropical forest landscapes contributes substantially to carbon emissions
Relationships between aboveground biomass (AGB) and the continuous explanatory variables The distribution of AGB was negatively skewed (Skewness: −0.852, st. error: 0.113, Kurtosis: 0.207, st. error: 0.226), which can be expected in a disturbed tropical forest landscape (Figure S1, in Additional file 1)
Using geographically weighted regression (GWR) for generating a better understanding of the biophysical and anthropogenic variables that contribute to the regional spatial variation of AGB, by using an extensive spatial dataset, is a relatively new approach
Summary
Land use and land cover change occurring in tropical forest landscapes contributes substantially to carbon emissions. More insights into the spatial variation of aboveground biomass (AGB) are crucial to minimise carbon emissions and global climate change from tropical deforestation, forest degradation and agricultural expansion. North and East Kalimantan are when combined the third largest carbon emitting provinces in Indonesia, with 255 Mt CO2e yr−1, after Central Kalimantan (324 Mt CO2e yr−1) and Riau (258 Mt CO2e yr−1) According to their ‘business as usual’ scenarios, land use change will cause carbon emissions in North and East Kalimantan to increase to 331 Mt CO2e yr−1 by 2030 [3]. Mechanisms such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest
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