Volume equations and biomass estimates for three species in tropical moist forest in the Orientale province, Democratic Republic of Congo

Volume equations predict the volume of the stem of a tree from dendrometrical characteristics that are easy to measure, such as diameter and/or height. These equations can serve as a surrogate for biomass equations, by converting the stem volume to stem biomass, and then expanding it to the total aboveground biomass. This is especially important for Central Africa where biomass equations are scarce, whereas volume equations are common. We measured the stem volume of 459 trees in the Yoko forest, Orientale province, Democratic Republic of Congo. These trees belonged to three species: Gilbertiodendron dewevrei (limbali), Guarea thompsonii (bossé foncé) and Scorodophloeus zenkeri (divida). Species-specific volume equations were fitted using these data, and biomass estimates were derived from these volume equations. The fitted volume equations were consistent with other location-specific volume equations for the same species. The biomass estimates derived from the fitted volume equations were also found to be consistent with multispecies pantropical biomass equations. Keywords: aboveground woody biomass, allometric equation, bossé foncé, Central Africa, divida, limbaliSouthern Forests 2010, 72(3/4): 141–14