Reply on RC3

Abstract

Boreal forests are particularly vulnerable to climate warming which increases the occurrence of natural disturbances, such as fires and insect outbreaks. It is therefore essential to better understand climate-induced changes in boreal vegetation dynamics. This requires accurate estimates of variations in biomass across regions and time. This remains challenging in the extensive larch forests of Northeast Siberia because of the paucity of allometric equations and physical properties of woody debris needed for quantifying aboveground biomass pools from field surveys. Our study is the first to present values of mean squared diameter (MSD) and specific gravity that can be used to calculate fine dead and downed woody fuel loads in Cajander larch (Larix cajanderi) forests using the line-intersect sampling approach. These values were derived from field measurements collected in 25 sites in the Republic of Sakha, Russia, and compared with values reported for other prevalent boreal tree species. We developed allometric equations relating diameter at breast height (DBH) to stem wood, stem bark, branches, foliage, and aboveground biomass based on measurements of 63 trees retrieved from previous studies. Differences between our allometric models and existing equations were assessed in predicting larch aboveground biomass in 53 sites sampled in the Republic of Sakha. We found that using fine woody debris (FWD) parameters from other boreal tree species and allometric equations developed in other regions may result in significant underestimates of fuel biomass in larch-dominated forests of Northeast Siberia. The FWD parameters and allometric equations presented in our paper can be used to refine estimates of aboveground biomass in Cajander larch forests in Northeast Siberia.