Introduction.
Sustainable management of forest resources relies on the continuous improvement and updating of mathematical models that provide the most accurate information on forest goods and ecosystem services.
Objectives.
To develop species-specific (SEVE) and multispecies (SEVM) additive systems of volume equation, as well as species-specific (FEBE) and multispecies (FEBM) biomass expansion factor equation systems, for estimating total biomass in six oak species from the Sierra of Santa Rosa, Guanajuato.
Materials and methods.
Data from 165 trees belonging to Quercus rugosa, Q. obtusata, Q. sideroxyla, Q. coccolobifolia, Q. laurina and Q. candicans were used. The destructive sampling method was applied to quantify total tree volume (TTV) as the sum of total stem volume and branch volume. SEVE and SEVM were fitted, along with FEBE and FEBM for stem, branches, and foliage, to estimate total biomass. Model performance was evaluated using the adjusted coefficient of determination (R2adj), root mean square error, mean absolute percentage error, and mean absolute error.
Results.
According to R2adj, SEVM explained 94.9 % of the variability in TTV, whereas SEVE explained between 0.91 and 0.98 across species. FEBM explained 96.6 % of the variability in total tree biomass, while FEBE explained between 93.4 and 98.3 %. On average, 51.4 % of total biomass was distributed in the stem, 46 % in branches and 2.6 % in foliage.
Conclusions.
The developed additive systems allow for accurate estimation of both commercial volume and aboveground biomass.