Abstract
Short-rotation forestry is of interest to provide biomass for bioenergy and act as a carbon sink to mitigate global warming. The Poplar tree (Populus × xiaohei) is a fast-growing and high-yielding tree species in Northeast China. In this study, a total of 128 Populus × xiaohei trees from the Songnen Plain, Heilongjiang Province, Northeastern China, were harvested. Several available independent variables, such as tree diameter at breast height (D), tree’s total height (H), crown width (CW), and crown length (CL), were differently combined to develop three additive biomass model systems and eight stem volume models for Populus × xiaohei tree. Variance explained within the three additive biomass model systems ranged from 83% to 98%, which was lowest for the foliage models, and highest for the stem biomass models. Similar findings were found in the stem volume models, in which the models explained more than 94% of the variance. The additional predictors, such as H, CL, or CW, evidently enhanced the model fitting and performance for the total and components biomass along with the stem volume models. Furthermore, the biomass conversion and expansion factors (BCEFs) of the root (118.2 kg/m3), stem (380.2 kg/m3), branch (90.7 kg/m3), and foliage (31.2 kg/m3) were also calculated. The carbon concentrations of Populus × xiaohei in root, stem, branch, and foliage components were 45.98%, 47.74%, 48.32%, and 48.46%, respectively. Overall, the newly established models in this study provided complete and comprehensive tools for quantifying the biomass and stem volume of Populus × xiaohei, which might be essential to be specifically utilized in the Chinese National Forest Inventory.
Highlights
Short-rotation forests pertain to plantations of certain fast-growing tree species and harvests continually at a brief period of rotations, which is possible due to the implementation of high planting density and intensive forest management [1,2]
H, crown width (CW), and crown length (CL) were found to give a significant improvement as the predictors for the stem biomass equation
The results suggested that all of the estimated parameters in the three additive biomass model systems were statistically significant at the significance level p < 0.05; The R2 values for all component biomass equations in MS1 are 0.9363, 0.9316, 0.8640, and 0.8321 for the root, stem, branch, and foliage, respectively
Summary
Short-rotation forests pertain to plantations of certain fast-growing tree species and harvests continually at a brief period of rotations, which is possible due to the implementation of high planting density and intensive forest management [1,2]. These types of plantations have various objectives, such as alleviating the contradiction between ecology and economy, estimating carbon accumulation, shortening the cycle of timber production management, prompting to produce biomass for bioenergy production, and providing the material for the production of wood pulp, feed, and biomass fuels by short-rotation management [3,4,5,6,7]. The area and stand volume of Populus × xiaohei plantation forests in the Songnen Plain of
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
