Tree Allometrics

Equations / Aboveground biomass

Subtropical China AGB from D, H and wood density (Model I.1)

Aboveground biomass41 subtropical forest tree species (Fagus lucida, Castanea seguinii, Carpinus viminea and others)ChinanaturalRead from the original paper

Fitted on these 3 species and others the paper does not name here: Fagus lucida, Castanea seguinii, Carpinus viminea

Many species, no single photo
Equation

As printed (Recommended model when height is available, p. 7 (Table 2, model I.1))

AGB = exp(−2.334 + 2.118ln(D) + 0.5436ln(H) + 0.5953ln(WD))

In this library's units, ready to compute (kg)

Aboveground biomass = exp(-2.334 + 2.118 * ln(D) + 0.5436 * ln(H) + 0.5953 * ln(rho))
D
Diameter at breast height (1.3 m), cm
H
Total tree height, m
rho
Wood density (oven-dry mass / green volume), g/cm³

Log-log model fitted by Bayesian MCMC; no correction factor is stated, so none is applied. Natural log assumed from the paper's ln notation. Wood density WD is in g cm-3 (Table 2; the running text says g/m3). Whole-tree AGB includes branches, leaves and fruit. Recommended by the authors when height is available. Coefficients are the more precise values printed in the recommended-model equation (Table 2 gives -2.334, 2.118, 0.544, 0.595).

Source
I.1 R² 0.950 RSE 0.173
R² · Table 3, model I.1 (R2 and RSE columns)
we harvested and weighted dry mass of 147 trees from 41 dominant species in subtropical forest
Trees measured · Abstract
Trees measured
147
R²
0.95
Residual SE
0.173
Method
Bayesian log-log regression (MCMC)
Where
Badagongshan National Nature Reserve, Hunan province
Last checked
2026-11-02
Calculate
Height from
166
Aboveground biomass (kg)
77.9
Carbon (kg), ×0.47
286
CO₂e (kg), ×44/12
0100200300400500600700800510152025303540DBH (cm)Aboveground biomass (kg)Aboveground biomass

Shaded: the DBH range the model was fitted on. Other inputs held at the values above.

Checks this equation passes

On every build, the library's form and the paper's own form (in its units) must both give these values within 1%.

InputsExpectedWe getFrom
D = 20, H = 14, rho = 0.57166166Computed from the printed form
computed from the printed coefficients
D = 40, H = 20, rho = 0.6901901Computed from the printed form
computed from the printed coefficients

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