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dc.contributor.authorTalbot, J
dc.contributor.authorLewis, Simon L.
dc.contributor.authorLopez-Gonzalez, G
dc.contributor.authorBrienen, Roel J.W.
dc.contributor.authorMonteagudo Mendoza, Abel
dc.contributor.authorBaker, Tim
dc.contributor.authorFeldpausch, T.R.
dc.contributor.authorMalhi, Y
dc.contributor.authorVanderwel, M
dc.contributor.authorAraujo-Murakami, A
dc.contributor.authorArroyo, L
dc.contributor.authorChao, KJ
dc.contributor.authorErwin, TL
dc.contributor.authorvan der Heijden, Geertje
dc.contributor.authorKeeling, H
dc.contributor.authorKilleen, TJ
dc.contributor.authorNeill, D
dc.contributor.authorNúñez Vargas, P
dc.contributor.authorParada Gutierrez, GA
dc.contributor.authorPitman, Nigel C.A.
dc.contributor.authorQuesada, CA
dc.contributor.authorSilveira, M
dc.contributor.authorStropp, J
dc.contributor.authorPhillips, OL
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-12T15:42:06Z
dc.date.issued2014-05-15
dc.description.abstractForest inventory plots are widely used to estimate biomass carbon storage and its change over time. While there has been much debate and exploration of the analytical methods for calculating biomass, the methods used to determine rates of wood production have not been evaluated to the same degree. This affects assessment of ecosystem fluxes and may have wider implications if inventory data are used to parameterise biospheric models, or scaled to large areas in assessments of carbon sequestration. Here we use a dataset of 35 long-term Amazonian forest inventory plots to test different methods of calculating wood production rates. These address potential biases associated with three issues that routinely impact the interpretation of tree measurement data: (1) changes in the point of measurement (POM) of stem diameter as trees grow over time; (2) unequal length of time between censuses; and (3) the treatment of trees that pass the minimum diameter threshold (“recruits”). We derive corrections that control for changing POM height, that account for the unobserved growth of trees that die within census intervals, and that explore different assumptions regarding the growth of recruits during the previous census interval. For our dataset we find that annual aboveground coarse wood production (AGWP; in Mg ha−1 year−1 of dry matter) is underestimated on average by 9.2% if corrections are not made to control for changes in POM height. Failure to control for the length of sampling intervals results in a mean underestimation of 2.7% in annual AGWP in our plots for a mean interval length of 3.6 years. Different methods for treating recruits result in mean differences of up to 8.1% in AGWP. In general, the greater the length of time a plot is sampled for and the greater the time elapsed between censuses, the greater the tendency to underestimate wood production. We recommend that POM changes, census interval length, and the contribution of recruits should all be accounted for when estimating productivity rates, and suggest methods for doing this.en_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipEuropean Unionen_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipUK Natural Environment Research Councilen_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipGordon and Betty Moore Foundationen_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipCASE sponsorship from UNEP-WCMCen_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipRoyal Society University Research Fellowshipen_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipERC Advanced Grant “Tropical Forests in the Changing Earth System”en_GB
dc.description.sponsorshipRoyal Society Wolfson Research Merit Awarden_GB
dc.identifier.citationVol. 320, pp. 30 - 38en_GB
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.foreco.2014.02.021
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/19219
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherElsevieren_GB
dc.relation.urlhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378112714001169en_GB
dc.rights© 2014. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en_GB
dc.titleMethods to estimate aboveground wood productivity from long-term forest inventory plotsen_GB
dc.typeArticleen_GB
dc.date.available2016-01-12T15:42:06Z
dc.identifier.issn0378-1127
dc.identifier.journalForest Ecology and Managementen_GB


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