Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation

Martin J. P. Sullivan; Simon L. Lewis; Wannes Hubau; Lan Qie; Timothy R. Baker; Lindsay F. Banin; Jerôme Chave; Aida Cuni Sanchez; Ted R. Feldpausch; Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez; Eric Arets; Peter Ashton; Jean-François Bastin; Nicholas J. Berry; Jan Bogaert; Rene Boot; Francis Q. Brearley; Roel Brienen; David F. R. P. Burslem; Charles de Canniere; Markéta Chudomelová; Martin Dančák; Corneille Ewango; Radim Hédl; Jon Lloyd; Jean-Remy Makana; Yadvinder Malhi; Beatriz S. Marimon; Ben Hur Marimon Junior; Faizah Metali; Sam Moore; Laszlo Nagy; Percy Núñez Vargas; Colin Pendry; Hirma Ramírez-Angulo; Jan Reitsma; Ervan Rutishauser; Kamariah Abu Salim; Bonaventure Sonké; Rahayu S. Sukri; Terry Sunderland; Martin Svátek; Peter M. Umunay; Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez; Ronald R. E. Vernimmen; Emilio Vilanova Torre; Jason Vleminckx; Vincent Vos; Oliver L. Phillips

doi:10.1111/2041-210X.12962

Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation

Martin J. P. Sullivan
, Simon L. Lewis
, Wannes Hubau
, Lan Qie
, Timothy R. Baker
, Lindsay F. Banin
, Jerôme Chave
, Aida Cuni Sanchez
, Ted R. Feldpausch
, Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez
, Eric Arets
, Peter Ashton
, Jean-François Bastin
, Nicholas J. Berry
, Jan Bogaert
, Rene Boot
, Francis Q. Brearley
, Roel Brienen
, David F. R. P. Burslem
, Charles de Canniere

Markéta Chudomelová, Martin Dančák, Corneille Ewango, Radim Hédl, Jon Lloyd, Jean-Remy Makana, Yadvinder Malhi, Beatriz S. Marimon, Ben Hur Marimon Junior, Faizah Metali, Sam Moore, Laszlo Nagy, Percy Núñez Vargas, Colin Pendry, Hirma Ramírez-Angulo, Jan Reitsma, Ervan Rutishauser, Kamariah Abu Salim, Bonaventure Sonké, Rahayu S. Sukri, Terry Sunderland, Martin Svátek, Peter M. Umunay, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez, Ronald R. E. Vernimmen, Emilio Vilanova Torre, Jason Vleminckx, Vincent Vos, Oliver L. Phillips

University of Leeds
University College London
Royal Museum for Central Africa
Imperial College London
Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III
University of York
University of Exeter
Wageningen University & Research
Harvard University
University of Liege
Utrecht University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Czech Academy of Sciences
Palacký University Olomouc
James Cook University Queensland
Universidade de São Paulo
University of Oxford
Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso
University of Brunei Darussalam
Universidade Estadual de Campinas
Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad del Cusco
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Universidad de los Andes Mérida
Université de Yaoundé I
Center for International Forestry Research, West Java
University of British Columbia
Yale University
Florida International University

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Abstract

1.Quantifying the relationship between tree diameter and height is a key component of efforts to estimate biomass and carbon stocks in tropical forests. Although substantial site-to-site variation in height-diameter allometries has been documented, the time consuming nature of measuring all tree heights in an inventory plot means that most studies do not include height, or else use generic pan-tropical or regional allometric equations to estimate height.

2.Using a pan-tropical dataset of 73 plots where at least 150 trees had in-field ground-based height measurements, we examined how the number of trees sampled affects the performance of locally-derived height-diameter allometries, and evaluated the performance of different methods for sampling trees for height measurement.

3.Using cross-validation, we found that allometries constructed with just 20 locally measured values could often predict tree height with lower error than regional or climate-based allometries (mean reduction in prediction error = 0.46 m). The predictive performance of locally-derived allometries improved with sample size, but with diminishing returns in performance gains when more than 40 trees were sampled. Estimates of stand-level biomass produced using local allometries to estimate tree height show no over- or under-estimation bias when compared with estimates using measured heights. We evaluated five strategies to sample trees for height measurement, and found that sampling strategies that included measuring the heights of the ten largest diameter trees in a plot outperformed (in terms of resulting in local height-diameter models with low height prediction error) entirely random or diameter size-class stratified approaches.

4.Our results indicate that even remarkably limited sampling of heights can be used to refine height-diameter allometries. We recommend aiming for a conservative threshold of sampling 50 trees per location for height measurement, and including the ten trees with the largest diameter in this sample.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1179-1189
Number of pages	11
Journal	Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Volume	9
Issue number	5
Early online date	13 Feb 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12962
Publication status	Published - May 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information

Agence Nationale Des Parcs Nationaux
Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System
FP7. Grant Number: 291585
Ideas: European Research Council. Grant Numbers: 282664, ‘AMAZALERT’, 283080, ‘GEOCARBON’
Royal Geographical Society
Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy. Grant Number: INGO II LG15051
Natural Environment Research Council. Grant Numbers: NE/F005806/1, NE/D005590/1, NE/N012542/1, NE/I021160/1
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Royal Society

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

Allometry
Carbon stocks
Forest inventory
Above-ground biomass estimation
Forest structure
Sample size

Access to Document

10.1111/2041-210X.12962Licence: CC BY

Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation
2018 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Final published version, 889 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Sullivan, M. J. P., Lewis, S. L., Hubau, W., Qie, L., Baker, T. R., Banin, L. F., Chave, J., Cuni Sanchez, A., Feldpausch, T. R., Lopez-Gonzalez, G., Arets, E., Ashton, P., Bastin, J.-F., Berry, N. J., Bogaert, J., Boot, R., Brearley, F. Q., Brienen, R., Burslem, D. F. R. P., ... Phillips, O. L. (2018). Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 9(5), 1179-1189. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12962

Sullivan, MJP, Lewis, SL, Hubau, W, Qie, L, Baker, TR, Banin, LF, Chave, J, Cuni Sanchez, A, Feldpausch, TR, Lopez-Gonzalez, G, Arets, E, Ashton, P, Bastin, J-F, Berry, NJ, Bogaert, J, Boot, R, Brearley, FQ, Brienen, R, Burslem, DFRP, de Canniere, C, Chudomelová, M, Dančák, M, Ewango, C, Hédl, R, Lloyd, J, Makana, J-R, Malhi, Y, Marimon, BS, Marimon Junior, BH, Metali, F, Moore, S, Nagy, L, Núñez Vargas, P, Pendry, C, Ramírez-Angulo, H, Reitsma, J, Rutishauser, E, Abu Salim, K, Sonké, B, Sukri, RS, Sunderland, T, Svátek, M, Umunay, PM, Vasquez Martinez, R, Vernimmen, RRE, Vilanova Torre, E, Vleminckx, J, Vos, V & Phillips, OL 2018, 'Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation', Methods in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 1179-1189. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12962

@article{27e2879d53e744218a9a3d7645f28d35,

title = "Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation",

abstract = "1.Quantifying the relationship between tree diameter and height is a key component of efforts to estimate biomass and carbon stocks in tropical forests. Although substantial site-to-site variation in height-diameter allometries has been documented, the time consuming nature of measuring all tree heights in an inventory plot means that most studies do not include height, or else use generic pan-tropical or regional allometric equations to estimate height. 2.Using a pan-tropical dataset of 73 plots where at least 150 trees had in-field ground-based height measurements, we examined how the number of trees sampled affects the performance of locally-derived height-diameter allometries, and evaluated the performance of different methods for sampling trees for height measurement. 3.Using cross-validation, we found that allometries constructed with just 20 locally measured values could often predict tree height with lower error than regional or climate-based allometries (mean reduction in prediction error = 0.46 m). The predictive performance of locally-derived allometries improved with sample size, but with diminishing returns in performance gains when more than 40 trees were sampled. Estimates of stand-level biomass produced using local allometries to estimate tree height show no over- or under-estimation bias when compared with estimates using measured heights. We evaluated five strategies to sample trees for height measurement, and found that sampling strategies that included measuring the heights of the ten largest diameter trees in a plot outperformed (in terms of resulting in local height-diameter models with low height prediction error) entirely random or diameter size-class stratified approaches. 4.Our results indicate that even remarkably limited sampling of heights can be used to refine height-diameter allometries. We recommend aiming for a conservative threshold of sampling 50 trees per location for height measurement, and including the ten trees with the largest diameter in this sample. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.",

keywords = "Allometry, Carbon stocks, Forest inventory, Above-ground biomass estimation, Forest structure, Sample size",

author = "Sullivan, \{Martin J. P.\} and Lewis, \{Simon L.\} and Wannes Hubau and Lan Qie and Baker, \{Timothy R.\} and Banin, \{Lindsay F.\} and Jer{\^o}me Chave and \{Cuni Sanchez\}, Aida and Feldpausch, \{Ted R.\} and Gabriela Lopez-Gonzalez and Eric Arets and Peter Ashton and Jean-Fran{\c c}ois Bastin and Berry, \{Nicholas J.\} and Jan Bogaert and Rene Boot and Brearley, \{Francis Q.\} and Roel Brienen and Burslem, \{David F. R. P.\} and \{de Canniere\}, Charles and Mark{\'e}ta Chudomelov{\'a} and Martin Dan{\v c}{\'a}k and Corneille Ewango and Radim H{\'e}dl and Jon Lloyd and Jean-Remy Makana and Yadvinder Malhi and Marimon, \{Beatriz S.\} and \{Marimon Junior\}, \{Ben Hur\} and Faizah Metali and Sam Moore and Laszlo Nagy and \{N{\'u}{\~n}ez Vargas\}, Percy and Colin Pendry and Hirma Ram{\'i}rez-Angulo and Jan Reitsma and Ervan Rutishauser and \{Abu Salim\}, Kamariah and Bonaventure Sonk{\'e} and Sukri, \{Rahayu S.\} and Terry Sunderland and Martin Sv{\'a}tek and Umunay, \{Peter M.\} and \{Vasquez Martinez\}, Rodolfo and Vernimmen, \{Ronald R. E.\} and \{Vilanova Torre\}, Emilio and Jason Vleminckx and Vincent Vos and Phillips, \{Oliver L.\}",

note = "Funding Information Agence Nationale Des Parcs Nationaux Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System FP7. Grant Number: 291585 Ideas: European Research Council. Grant Numbers: 282664, {\textquoteleft}AMAZALERT{\textquoteright}, 283080, {\textquoteleft}GEOCARBON{\textquoteright} Royal Geographical Society Ministerstvo {\v S}kolstv{\'i}, Ml{\'a}de{\v z}e a T{\v e}lov{\'y}chovy. Grant Number: INGO II LG15051 Natural Environment Research Council. Grant Numbers: NE/F005806/1, NE/D005590/1, NE/N012542/1, NE/I021160/1 Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation David and Lucile Packard Foundation Royal Society",

year = "2018",

month = may,

doi = "10.1111/2041-210X.12962",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

pages = "1179--1189",

journal = "Methods in Ecology and Evolution",

issn = "2041-210X",

publisher = "British Ecological Society",

number = "5",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation

AU - Sullivan, Martin J. P.

AU - Lewis, Simon L.

AU - Hubau, Wannes

AU - Qie, Lan

AU - Baker, Timothy R.

AU - Banin, Lindsay F.

AU - Chave, Jerôme

AU - Cuni Sanchez, Aida

AU - Feldpausch, Ted R.

AU - Lopez-Gonzalez, Gabriela

AU - Arets, Eric

AU - Ashton, Peter

AU - Bastin, Jean-François

AU - Berry, Nicholas J.

AU - Bogaert, Jan

AU - Boot, Rene

AU - Brearley, Francis Q.

AU - Brienen, Roel

AU - Burslem, David F. R. P.

AU - de Canniere, Charles

AU - Chudomelová, Markéta

AU - Dančák, Martin

AU - Ewango, Corneille

AU - Hédl, Radim

AU - Lloyd, Jon

AU - Makana, Jean-Remy

AU - Malhi, Yadvinder

AU - Marimon, Beatriz S.

AU - Marimon Junior, Ben Hur

AU - Metali, Faizah

AU - Moore, Sam

AU - Nagy, Laszlo

AU - Núñez Vargas, Percy

AU - Pendry, Colin

AU - Ramírez-Angulo, Hirma

AU - Reitsma, Jan

AU - Rutishauser, Ervan

AU - Abu Salim, Kamariah

AU - Sonké, Bonaventure

AU - Sukri, Rahayu S.

AU - Sunderland, Terry

AU - Svátek, Martin

AU - Umunay, Peter M.

AU - Vasquez Martinez, Rodolfo

AU - Vernimmen, Ronald R. E.

AU - Vilanova Torre, Emilio

AU - Vleminckx, Jason

AU - Vos, Vincent

AU - Phillips, Oliver L.

N1 - Funding Information Agence Nationale Des Parcs Nationaux Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System FP7. Grant Number: 291585 Ideas: European Research Council. Grant Numbers: 282664, ‘AMAZALERT’, 283080, ‘GEOCARBON’ Royal Geographical Society Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a Tělovýchovy. Grant Number: INGO II LG15051 Natural Environment Research Council. Grant Numbers: NE/F005806/1, NE/D005590/1, NE/N012542/1, NE/I021160/1 Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation David and Lucile Packard Foundation Royal Society

PY - 2018/5

Y1 - 2018/5

N2 - 1.Quantifying the relationship between tree diameter and height is a key component of efforts to estimate biomass and carbon stocks in tropical forests. Although substantial site-to-site variation in height-diameter allometries has been documented, the time consuming nature of measuring all tree heights in an inventory plot means that most studies do not include height, or else use generic pan-tropical or regional allometric equations to estimate height. 2.Using a pan-tropical dataset of 73 plots where at least 150 trees had in-field ground-based height measurements, we examined how the number of trees sampled affects the performance of locally-derived height-diameter allometries, and evaluated the performance of different methods for sampling trees for height measurement. 3.Using cross-validation, we found that allometries constructed with just 20 locally measured values could often predict tree height with lower error than regional or climate-based allometries (mean reduction in prediction error = 0.46 m). The predictive performance of locally-derived allometries improved with sample size, but with diminishing returns in performance gains when more than 40 trees were sampled. Estimates of stand-level biomass produced using local allometries to estimate tree height show no over- or under-estimation bias when compared with estimates using measured heights. We evaluated five strategies to sample trees for height measurement, and found that sampling strategies that included measuring the heights of the ten largest diameter trees in a plot outperformed (in terms of resulting in local height-diameter models with low height prediction error) entirely random or diameter size-class stratified approaches. 4.Our results indicate that even remarkably limited sampling of heights can be used to refine height-diameter allometries. We recommend aiming for a conservative threshold of sampling 50 trees per location for height measurement, and including the ten trees with the largest diameter in this sample. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

AB - 1.Quantifying the relationship between tree diameter and height is a key component of efforts to estimate biomass and carbon stocks in tropical forests. Although substantial site-to-site variation in height-diameter allometries has been documented, the time consuming nature of measuring all tree heights in an inventory plot means that most studies do not include height, or else use generic pan-tropical or regional allometric equations to estimate height. 2.Using a pan-tropical dataset of 73 plots where at least 150 trees had in-field ground-based height measurements, we examined how the number of trees sampled affects the performance of locally-derived height-diameter allometries, and evaluated the performance of different methods for sampling trees for height measurement. 3.Using cross-validation, we found that allometries constructed with just 20 locally measured values could often predict tree height with lower error than regional or climate-based allometries (mean reduction in prediction error = 0.46 m). The predictive performance of locally-derived allometries improved with sample size, but with diminishing returns in performance gains when more than 40 trees were sampled. Estimates of stand-level biomass produced using local allometries to estimate tree height show no over- or under-estimation bias when compared with estimates using measured heights. We evaluated five strategies to sample trees for height measurement, and found that sampling strategies that included measuring the heights of the ten largest diameter trees in a plot outperformed (in terms of resulting in local height-diameter models with low height prediction error) entirely random or diameter size-class stratified approaches. 4.Our results indicate that even remarkably limited sampling of heights can be used to refine height-diameter allometries. We recommend aiming for a conservative threshold of sampling 50 trees per location for height measurement, and including the ten trees with the largest diameter in this sample. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

KW - Allometry

KW - Carbon stocks

KW - Forest inventory

KW - Above-ground biomass estimation

KW - Forest structure

KW - Sample size

U2 - 10.1111/2041-210X.12962

DO - 10.1111/2041-210X.12962

M3 - Article

SN - 2041-210X

VL - 9

SP - 1179

EP - 1189

JO - Methods in Ecology and Evolution

JF - Methods in Ecology and Evolution

IS - 5

ER -

Field methods for sampling tree height for tropical forest biomass estimation

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

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Cite this