BIOMASS AND ITS ALLOCATION IN TROPICAL SEASONAL RAIN FOREST IN XISHUANGBANNA, SOUTHWEST CHINA

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2007.0003

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Changes in the biomass of tropical forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle, but the biomass of these forests has been poorly quantified. A strategy for regional biomass estimation should supplement previous surveys with new data. Accurate data are necessary for reducing the uncertainty in the carbon budget of tropical regions.

Methods Biomass and its allocation were estimated for the tropical seasonal rain forest in Xishuangbanna, southwest China. Regression models relating tree biomass to DBH (diameter at breast height, 1.3 m) were developed, and a power-law allometric relationship W=aD^b was used to estimate the tree biomass, where W is the biomass of a tree (kg of leaves, branches, stems or roots), a and b are constants and D is the DBH (cm). Other biomass components were sampled in different quadrats in three 1 hm² permanent research plots: shrubs (ten 25 m² quadrats), herbs (ten 4 m² quadrats), dead wood (the whole plot), large fallen branches (twenty-five 25 m² quadrats) and litterfall (twenty-five 1 m² quadrats). This method was used for estimating above- and below-ground biomass of live and dead plants (trees, seedlings, shrubs, herbs, woody lianas, epiphytes, coarse woody debris and litterfall).

Important findings Total biomass for the three plots was 370.163, 550.119 and 351.442 Mg·hm^-2, with an average of (423.908±109.702) Mg·hm^-2 (95% confidence interval). Living biomass made up 95.28% of the total biomass, with coarse woody debris and litterfall comprising the rest. Most living biomass (98.09%±0.60%) (Mean±SD, n=3) of the seasonal rain forest was concentrated in the tree layer. In the allocation of total biomass, stems accounted 68.33% and roots, branches and leaves made up 18.91%, 11.07% and 1.65%, respectively. The biomass allocation among different DBH classes was concentrated in the middle and largest classes, with large trees (D>70 cm) accounting for 43.67% ± 12.67%. The most important ten species, in terms of biomass, made up 63.43% of the tree layer. Leaf area index (LAI) of the tree layer for the three plots was 5.73, 7.35 and 6.08, with an average of 6.39. Estimated aboveground biomass in our study sites fell within the range of published values for tropical moist forests and was lower than that of Malaysian and Cameroon rain forests, but higher than some neotropical rain forests. In terms of total biomass, Xishuangbanna tropical seasonal rain forest is also higher than moist forest in Brazil.

Key words: biomass, biomass allocation, regression models, tropical seasonal rain forest, Xishuangbanna

LÁ Xiao-Tao, TANG Jian-Wei, HE You-Cai, DUAN Wen-Gui, SONG Jun-Ping, XU Hai-Long, ZHU Sheng-Zhong. BIOMASS AND ITS ALLOCATION IN TROPICAL SEASONAL RAIN FOREST IN XISHUANGBANNA, SOUTHWEST CHINA[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2007, 31(1): 11-22.

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Figures/Tables 9

References 37

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地点 Study site	样地号 Plot No.	纬度 Latitude	经度 Longitude	海拔 Altitude	坡向 Aspect	坡度 Slope	坡位 Position
勐仑 Menglun	Ⅰ	21°57' N	101°12' E	730 m	NW	15°~20°	中 Middle
勐腊 Mengla	Ⅱ	21°32' N	101°33' E	580 m	EN	25°~30°	下 Lower
曼养 Manyang	Ⅲ	21°27' N	101°36' E	640 m	NE	20°~25°	下 Lower

地点 Study site	样地号 Plot No.	纬度 Latitude	经度 Longitude	海拔 Altitude	坡向 Aspect	坡度 Slope	坡位 Position
勐仑 Menglun	Ⅰ	21°57' N	101°12' E	730 m	NW	15°~20°	中 Middle
勐腊 Mengla	Ⅱ	21°32' N	101°33' E	580 m	EN	25°~30°	下 Lower
曼养 Manyang	Ⅲ	21°27' N	101°36' E	640 m	NE	20°~25°	下 Lower

生活型 Life form	径级及样木数 DBH classes and sample no.	器官 Organ	回归模型 Regression models	相关系数 Regression coefficients (r)
乔木 Tree	2 cm≤D≤5 cm (N=46)	干 Stem	W_S=0.073 3D^{2.588 4}	0.896 0^***
		枝 Branch	W_B=0.013 5D^{2.515 8}	0.731 7^***
		叶 Leaf	W_L=0.039 4D^1.456	0.667 5^***
		根 Root	W_R=0.028D^2.399	0.826 6^***
		总 Total	W_T=0.147 1D^{2.439 9}	0.907 6^***
	5 cm<D≤20 cm (N=55)	干 Stem	W_S =0.108 6D^{2.316 9}	0.945 3^***
		枝 Branch	W_B =0.018 6D^{2.468 5}	0.861 9^***
		叶 Leaf	W_L =0.045 5D^{1.663 6}	0.767 5^***
		根 Root	W_R =0.024 2D^{2.420 5}	0.935 7^***
		总 Total	W_T =0.181 5D^{2.322 2}	0.959 1^***
	D>20 cm (N=22)	干 Stem	W_S=0.040 1D^{2.675 2}	0.966 3^***
		枝 Branch	W_B=0.082 9D^{2.039 5}	0.913 6^***
		叶 Leaf	W_L =0.097 9D^{1.358 4}	0.797 6^***
		根 Root	W_R =0.011 1D^{2.680 1}	0.968 6^***
		总 Total	W_T =0.093 2D^{2.560 2}	0.968 1^***
木质藤本 Woody liana	2 cm≤D≤14.5 cm (N=13)	总 Total	W_T=0.072 9(D²L)^{0.864 2}	0.942 3^***

生活型 Life form	径级及样木数 DBH classes and sample no.	器官 Organ	回归模型 Regression models	相关系数 Regression coefficients (r)
乔木 Tree	2 cm≤D≤5 cm (N=46)	干 Stem	W_S=0.073 3D^{2.588 4}	0.896 0^***
		枝 Branch	W_B=0.013 5D^{2.515 8}	0.731 7^***
		叶 Leaf	W_L=0.039 4D^1.456	0.667 5^***
		根 Root	W_R=0.028D^2.399	0.826 6^***
		总 Total	W_T=0.147 1D^{2.439 9}	0.907 6^***
	5 cm<D≤20 cm (N=55)	干 Stem	W_S =0.108 6D^{2.316 9}	0.945 3^***
		枝 Branch	W_B =0.018 6D^{2.468 5}	0.861 9^***
		叶 Leaf	W_L =0.045 5D^{1.663 6}	0.767 5^***
		根 Root	W_R =0.024 2D^{2.420 5}	0.935 7^***
		总 Total	W_T =0.181 5D^{2.322 2}	0.959 1^***
	D>20 cm (N=22)	干 Stem	W_S=0.040 1D^{2.675 2}	0.966 3^***
		枝 Branch	W_B=0.082 9D^{2.039 5}	0.913 6^***
		叶 Leaf	W_L =0.097 9D^{1.358 4}	0.797 6^***
		根 Root	W_R =0.011 1D^{2.680 1}	0.968 6^***
		总 Total	W_T =0.093 2D^{2.560 2}	0.968 1^***
木质藤本 Woody liana	2 cm≤D≤14.5 cm (N=13)	总 Total	W_T=0.072 9(D²L)^{0.864 2}	0.942 3^***

层次 Layer	样地 Plot	茎 Stem		枝 Branch		叶 Leaf		根 Root		总计 Total
层次 Layer	样地 Plot	生物量 Biomass	%	生物量 Biomass	%	生物量 Biomass	%	生物量 Biomass	%	生物量 Biomass	%
乔木层 Tree	I	238.396	68.50	37.733	10.84	4.418	1.27	67.493	19.39	348.040	100
	II	359.924	69.66	49.873	9.65	4.951	0.96	101.976	19.74	516.724	100
	III	219.764	67.61	38.379	11.81	4.655	1.43	62.239	19.15	325.037	100
	平均 Average	272.695 (76.115)	68.76	41.995 (6.830)	10.59	4.675 (0.267)	1.18	77.236 (21.586)	19.47	396.600 (104.664)	100
灌木层 Shrub	I	1.213	52.08	0.208	8.93	0.312	13.40	0.596	25.59	2.329	100
	II	0.609	53.33	0.106	9.28	0.155	13.57	0.272	23.82	1.142	100
	III	0.995	50.41	0.292	14.79	0.239	12.11	0.448	22.70	1.974	100
	平均 Average	0.939 (0.306)	51.73	0.202 (0.093)	11.13	0.235 (0.079)	12.97	0.439 (0.162)	24.17	1.815 (0.609)	100
草本层 Herb	I	0.534	35.82	-	-	0.328	22.0	0.629	42.19	1.491	100
	II	0.928	41.15	-	-	0.572	25.37	0.755	33.48	2.255	100
	III	0.455	18.56	-	-	0.628	25.61	1.369	55.83	2.452	100
	平均 Average	0.639 (0.253)	30.93	-	-	0.509 (0.160)	24.65	0.918 (0.396)	44.42	2.066 (0.508)	100
木质藤本 Liana	I	3.347	81.85	-	-	0.206	5.04	0.536	13.11	4.089	100
	II	2.469	87.71	-	-	0.152	5.40	0.194	6.89	2.815	100
	III	2.339	87.70	-	-	0.144	5.40	0.184	6.90	2.667	100
	平均 Average	2.718 (0.548)	85.21	-	-	0.167 (0.034)	5.25	0.305 (0.200)	9.55	3.190 (0.782)	100
附生植物 Epiphyte	I	0.115	50.66	-	-	0.065	28.63	0.047	20.71	0.227	100
	II	0.087	45.31	-	-	0.061	31.77	0.044	22.92	0.192	100
	III	0.139	45.57	-	-	0.098	32.13	0.068	22.30	0.305	100
	平均 Average	0.114 (0.026)	47.10	-	-	0.075 (0.020)	30.94	0.053 (0.013)	21.96	0.241 (0.058)	100
总计 Total	I	243.605	68.39	37.941	10.65	5.329	1.50	69.301	19.46	356.176	100
	II	364.017	69.59	49.979	9.55	5.891	1.13	103.241	19.73	523.128	100
	III	223.692	67.29	38.671	11.63	5.764	1.73	64.308	19.34	332.435	100
	平均 Average	277.105 (75.923)	68.61	42.197 (6.749)	10.45	5.661 (0.295)	1.40	78.950 (21.184)	19.55	403.913 (103.923)	100