Estimates of live-tree carbon stores in the Pacific Northwest are sensitive to model selection.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Estimates of live-tree carbon stores are influenced by numerous uncertainties. One of them is model-selection uncertainty: one has to choose among multiple empirical equations and conversion factors that can be plausibly justified as locally applicable to calculate the carbon store from inventory measurements such as tree height and diameter at breast height (DBH). Here we quantify the model-selection uncertainty for the five most numerous tree species in six counties of northwest Oregon, USA.

Results

The results of our study demonstrate that model-selection error may introduce 20 to 40% uncertainty into a live-tree carbon estimate, possibly making this form of error the largest source of uncertainty in estimation of live-tree carbon stores. The effect of model se

SUBMITTER: Melson SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3094363 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature