Carbon and biomass models for five Sierra Nevada mixed conifer species

Abstract

Data from tree cores and disks were used to develop biomass and carbon mass taper models for five major Sierra Nevada conifer species. These taper models were used to predict masses of tree boles, tree bole portions, branch, and foliage using carbon fraction data for oven-dried and living tissues. Taper models developed using core data were well modeled to disk data with R2 values ranging from 0.98 to 0.99 by inclusion of a calibration parameter. The fit of the final models suggests our approach can be used to include large diameter trees that cannot be cut down in biomass data collection efforts that otherwise would only sample smaller diameter trees. Our results show that biomass-weighted living carbon estimates at the whole tree level ranged from 2.8% to 9% higher than estimation methods using the standard carbon fraction of 0.5 depending on the tree species. Our approach addresses the need to account for variation in carbon fraction and wood density throughout trees, as well as demonstrating a data collection and modeling approach to include large old growth trees that cannot be destructively sampled.