Abstract:
Species-specific allometric models developed from easily measurable dendrometrical characteristics of a plant enable to accurately estimate the aboveground biomass of a plant, and thus, carbon stocks in forests. However, the number of registered species-specific allometric equations for Ethiopia as of 2014 is only 64 despite the high species diversity of Ethiopian forests. This study was conducted in Egdu Forest; a dry evergreen afromontane forest in central highlands of Ethiopia with the aim of developing species-specific allometry equations for Acacia abyssinica, Erica arborea, Rhus glutinosa, Rhus vulgaris, Scolopia theifolia and Sideroxylon oxyacanthum. In the study the general guide line of FAO (Picard N. et. al., 2012) to develop species-specific allometric equation for biomass estimation by semi-destructive sampling method was followed. The trimmed biomass, untrimmed dry branches and dry section biomass of each individual plant was calculated and the AGB of each individual plant was estimated by summing up the three compartment biomasses of the plant. Accordingly, the average AGB of Acacia abyssinica, Erica arborea, Rhus glutinosa, Rhus vulgaris, Scolopia theifolia and Sideroxylon oxyacanthum was found to be 1,319, 136, 98, 66, 55 and 46 respectively. Using the estimated AGB value; the aboveground carbon stock for the trees/shrubs was obtained by taking 50% of their respective AGB, the BGB was determined by taking 20% of the AGB and the total biomass was obtained by adding the respective AGB and BGB of the plant. The new species-specific allometric models developed by performing linear regression analysis using R software considering DBH as a sole predictor of dry section, AGB and total biomass. All the models best fit at P> 0.000 and are the best performing models. These models can be used for reliable estimates of biomass for the study species within their validity range and would be highly supportive for proper management and sustainable use of forests where the species are of high importance value like Egdu.
Keywords: Aboveground biomass, semi-destructive method, species-specific allometric model