Estimating the Annual Above-Ground Biomass Production of Various Species on Sites in Sweden on the Basis of Individual Climate and Productivity Values

Johann Trischler,Thomas Thörnqvist,Dick Sandberg

doi:10.3390/f5102521

Abstract

The literature contains a large number of bioclimate, climate and biometric models for estimating the production of different species or stands under specific conditions on a defined site or models giving the distribution of a single species. Depending on the model used, the amount of input data required varies considerably and often involves a large investment in time and money. The purpose of this study was to create a model to estimate the annual above-ground biomass production of various species from site conditions defined by mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation. For this approach, the Miami model of Lieth was used as a base model with some modifications. This first version of the modified model was restricted to sites in Sweden, where changes in the soil and groundwater level were relatively small, and where the growth of land vegetation was mostly dependent on temperature. A validation of this model has shown that it seems possible to use the Miami model to estimate the annual above-ground biomass production of various species, and that it was possible to compare the annual above-ground biomass production of different species on one site, as well as the annual above-ground biomass production of different species on different sites using the modeled data.

Highlights

The growth and geographical distribution of species are influenced by both abiotic and biotic factors
The concept that the distribution of a species in any given region depends on the ecological niches available was introduced by Ellenberg, 1986, who designed ecograms for the tree species of Europe according to environmental factors [5,6]
In addition to the transformation of net primary production (NPP) to above-ground biomass production in terms of dry matter (ABM) of a single species, these modifications include the effects of evapotranspiration (E) and species-specific climatic parameters (MATnat)

Summary

Introduction

The growth and geographical distribution of species are influenced by both abiotic and biotic factors. As there is no single optimum, but rather a number of different optima for different factors such as temperature, light, moisture, nutrients, etc., and as they are all available to different extents, there is always at least one factor that limits the growth; the one that is least available This is in essence “the law of limiting factors”, first presented by Justus von Liebig in 1840 to explain the influence of chemical nutrients on plant growth. This approach can be used to explain the existence of different ecosystems in different regions due to different climates [2]. The concept that the distribution of a species in any given region depends on the ecological niches available was introduced by Ellenberg, 1986, who designed ecograms for the tree species of Europe according to environmental factors [5,6]

Objectives

Methods

Results