Environmental and biotic controls over aboveground biomass throughout a tropical rain forest

Author:

Asner, Gregory P., Hughes, Flint, Varga, Timothy A., Knapp, David E., Kennedy-Bowdoin, Ty

Title:

Environmental and biotic controls over aboveground biomass throughout a tropical rain forest

Periodical:

Ecosystems

Year:

2009

Volume:

12

Pages:

261-278

Subject:

Airborne remote sensing Alien invasive species Biological invasions Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) Tropical forests Vegetation structure Metrosideros polymorpha

Summary:

While it is known that aboveground tree biomass (AGB) in a forest integrates the processes of plant establishment, growth and mortality, success, disturbance, and ecosystem processes, and while it is known that forest AGB is also influenced by climate, substrate age and soil fertility, species composition, and topographic relief, the environmental and biotic factors that affect spatial variation in canopy three-dimensional (3D) structure and AGB are poorly understood in tropical rainforests. This is because the ability to measure biomass across landscapes while maintaining high spatial and biophysical resolution is lacking. However, since understanding AGB and the effects of biological invasion on carbon stocks is needed to predict changes in landscape-level carbon storage and sequestration potential, this study was done in an effort to answer questions that focused on the environmental and biotic factors that affect AGB at the landscape level. Here, field measurements and airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) were combined to quantify 3-D structure and AGB across a 5,016 ha rain forest reserve on the northeastern flank of Mauna Kea volcano, Hawaii Island. The AGB among native stands that are dominated by Metrosideros polymorpha that were found along a 600-1800 meter elevation/climate gradient, and on three substrate-age classes of 5, 20, and 65 kyr, were compared. Also analyzed was how alien tree invasion, canopy species dominance, and topographic relief influence AGB levels.

Label:

Ecology - Rain Forests

URL:

http://cletus.uhh.hawaii.edu:2074/10.1007/s10021-008-9221-5

Collection:

Periodicals