COMPARISON OF BIOMASS ESTIMATION APPROACHES BASED ON INVENTORY DATA: A CASE STUDY IN KAPIKAYA FOREST, TURKEY

Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate different above-ground biomass (AGB) considering different estimation approaches and to investigate if there are significant differences between the AGB estimations of these approaches using analysis of variance. In this study, the capabilities of three approaches including Biomass Conversion and Expansion Factor (BCEF) method, Biomass Conversion and Expansion Factor based on Tree Species (BCEFTS) method and Allometric Equation (AE) method were evaluated in estimation of AGB using forest inventory data in Kapikaya Forest District (FD) located in the city of Kahramanmaras in Turkey. The AGB values estimated by three approaches were 587362.4 tons, 587679.0 tons and 834112.3 tons for the BCEF, BCEFTS, and AE approaches, respectively. According to result of the analysis of variance, there was a significant difference between the AGB estimations of three approaches. AGB estimation of the AE approach was statistically different from the estimations of BCEF and BCEFTS.