title: Allometric equations for integrating remote sensing imagery into forest monitoring programmes.
abstract: Remote sensing is revolutionizing the way we study forests, and recent technological advances mean we are now able - for the first time - to identify and measure the crown dimensions of individual trees from airborne imagery. Yet to make full use of these data for quantifying forest carbon stocks and dynamics, a new generation of allometric tools which have tree height and crown size at their centre are needed. Here, we compile a global database of 108753 trees for which stem diameter, height and crown diameter have all been measured, including 2395 trees harvested to measure aboveground biomass. Using this database, we develop general allometric models for estimating both the diameter and aboveground biomass of trees from attributes which can be remotely sensed - specifically height and crown diameter. We show that tree height and crown diameter jointly quantify the aboveground biomass of individual trees and find that a single equation predicts stem diameter from these two variables across the world's forests. These new allometric models provide an intuitive way of integrating remote sensing imagery into large-scale forest monitoring programmes and will be of key importance for parameterizing the next generation of dynamic vegetation models.
authors.affiliation: Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jucker
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3B3, Canada.|Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Caspersen
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR5174, CNRS/Université Paul Sabatier Bâtiment 4R1, 118 route de Narbonne, Toulouse, F-31062, France.
authors.forename: Jérôme
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chave
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR AMAP, Montpellier, France.|Institut Français de Pondichéry, UMIFRE CNRS-MAE 21, Puducherry, India.
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Antin
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR AMAP, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Barbier
authors.affiliation: Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, AA Wageningen, 6700, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frans
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bongers
authors.affiliation: Department of Sustainable Agro-ecosystems and Bioresources, Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione E. Mach, Via E. Mach 1, San Michele all'Adige, 38010, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dalponte
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography and Planning, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Karin Y
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: van Ewijk
authors.affiliation: Chair of Silviculture, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Freiburg University, Tennenbacherstr. 4, Freiburg, 79108, Germany.
authors.forename: David I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Forrester
authors.affiliation: Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haeni
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9016, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Steven I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Higgins
authors.affiliation: Landcare Research, PO Box 69040, Lincoln, 7640, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Holdaway
authors.affiliation: Kyushu Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Kumamoto, 860-0862, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iida
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lorimer
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Peter L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR AMAP, Montpellier, France.|Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d'Ecologie, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Momo
authors.affiliation: Fynbos Node, South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, Kirstenbosch Gardens, Private Bag X7, Rhodes Drive, Claremont, Cape Town, 7735, South Africa.
authors.forename: Glenn R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Moncrieff
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UMR AMAP, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ploton
authors.affiliation: Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, AA Wageningen, 6700, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lourens
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Poorter
authors.affiliation: Forest Research Institute of Malaysia, Kepong 52109, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Kassim Abd
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Observation, Friedrich-Schiller University, Loebdergraben 32, Jena, 07743, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schlund
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Botanique systématique et d'Ecologie, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université de Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
authors.forename: Bonaventure
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sonké
authors.affiliation: Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, AA Wageningen, 6700, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frank J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Sterck
authors.affiliation: Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.
authors.forename: Anna T
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7903-9711
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Trugman
authors.affiliation: Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ural branch), Russia and Ural State Forest Engineering University, Yekaterinburg, 620100, Russia.
authors.forename: Vladimir A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Usoltsev
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Pkwy, Regina, SK, S4S 0A2, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Vanderwel
authors.affiliation: Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Waldner
authors.affiliation: Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Beatrice M M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Wedeux
authors.affiliation: Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.|German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wirth
authors.affiliation: Conservation and Natural Resources Management, Sommersbergseestr. 291, Bad Aussee, A-8990, Austria.
authors.forename: Hannsjörg
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wöll
authors.affiliation: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, North Bay, ON, P1A 4L7, Canada.
authors.forename: Murray
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Woods
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China.
authors.forename: Wenhua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Zürcherstrasse 111, Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Niklaus E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.affiliation: Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Coomes
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D002244:Carbon; D057486:Carbon Cycle; D065928:Forests; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology; D014197:Trees
chemical_list: D002244:Carbon
keywords: aboveground biomass; airborne laser scanning; carbon mapping; crown architecture; height-diameter allometry; stem diameter distributions