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Estimating tree biomass and changes in root biomass following clear-cutting of Brachystegia-Julbernardia (miombo) woodland in central Zambia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2013

EMMANUEL N CHIDUMAYO
EMMANUEL N CHIDUMAYO*
Affiliation:
Makeni Savanna Research Project, PO Box 50323, Ridgeway, Lusaka, Zambia
*
*Correspondence: Dr Emmanuel Chidumayo e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
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Summary

This study aimed at developing allometric models from destructive sample field data for estimating both aboveground and belowground tree biomass and assessing changes in root biomass after old-growth Brachystegia-Julbernardia (miombo) woodland clearing in central Zambia. Logarithmic linear models were selected for estimating tree biomass because they gave the most accurate (low mean error) predictions. On average aboveground and belowground biomass in regrowth woodland represented 29% and 41%, respectively, of the biomass in old-growth woodland. The root:shoot ratios were 0.54 and 0.77 in old-growth and regrowth woodland, respectively. Ten years after clear-cutting old-growth woodland, root biomass loss was about 60% of the original biomass. The main cause of post clearing root biomass loss was fire which at the study sites occurred annually or biannually. Control of fire in cleared sites should be encouraged in forest management for carbon storage and sequestration in miombo woodland of southern Africa.

Keywords

allometric modelsdestructive samplingdry foresterror estimationregrowthZambia
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 54 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2013 

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