Above-Ground Biomass of a Mixed Eucalypt Forest in Eastern Victoria

Abstract

Eleven trees of Eucalyptus muellerana and 10 trees both of E. agglomerata and of E. sieberi growing in an uneven-aged mixed sclerophyll forest on duplex granitoid soils in eastern Victoria were felled, measured. separated into branch and stem components, sampled and weighed. Understorey vegetation and litter were also sampled for dry weight determination. Both linear and allometric regressions were developed for each species to predict branch and stem component dry weights from branch and tree dimensions. The predicted component weights for all branches on each tree were summed to estimate crown component dry weights, and regressions were then fitted for these crown component dry weights as functions of tree dimensions. Land area estimates of above-ground tree biomass were made by measuring tree diameters on sample plots. applying the appropriate regressions relating stem and crown component dry weights to tree diameter, and summing the predicted weights for each plot. The above-ground biomass of the forest ecosystem. which had a tree density of 123 stems per ha, was estimated to be 344.100 kg ha^-1 of which 94.6% was in the forest overstorey. The proportions of each tree component in the overstorey were stem wood 60.1%, stem bark 15.8%. branch wood 16.5%, branch bark 3.9%, twigs 2.0%, and leaves 1.7%.