A Ground-Up View of Measuring Tropical Forest BIOMASS

Oliver Phillips with contributions from Jerome Chave and Simon Lewis

First BIOMASS Science Workshop European Space Agency, Frascati

27-30 January , 2015

BIOMASS ground work has to be pan-tropical

63% of forest carbon is in intact tropical forests. The most diverse, complex ecosystems on Earth, so we need to measure across the domain to understand present-day variation

The satellite challenge

• RS does not measure biomass; it measures structural

features which need to be related to AGB locally (calibration)

• Assessing uncertainty in these relationships requires validation

• Structure / AGB relationships vary across environmental gradients – hence cal/val is data-hungry

How can ground data help for calibration and validation ?

• ground data are also estimates, but they are independent, being based on individual organisms (trees), not canopy structural features

• requires (1) matching to RS in time, (2) accurate tree dimensions, and (3) accurate species identification

Biomass mortality is non-constant

Pan-Amazon plot biomass dynamics, Brienen et al. (in press) Nature

Amazon drought

Amazon drought

1. Synchronising measurements with BIOMASS

2. Accurate Dimensions: Foresters’ skills

Allpahuayo, Peru

3. Accurate Identification: Botanists’ skills

Species matter

Leaf Area Index, Robert Simmon, MODIS data (NASA)

20% of global forest biomass (Pan et al. 2011, Science)

comprised of 16,000 tree species

(ter Steege et al. 2013, Science),

invisible from space

Species D (cm) H (m) Ρ (g/cm3) AGB (t, dry mass)

Apuleia leiocarpa

108 30 0.855 12.2

Cavanillesia umbellata

115 28 0.132

2.3

Dipteryx micrantha

158 44 0.871 76.1

R. C. Goodman, O. L. Phillips, T. R. Baker, 2012, Nature 491: 527

species impact on AGB at the tree-scale

Whole trees measured directly - cut, dried, weighed

Whole trees measured directly - cut, dried, weighed:

The heaviest tropical tree! Dipteryx micrantha, AGB = 76 t

Species are also critical for AGB at the landscape-scale

Pleistocene alluvium: 0.61+0.02 g cm-3, basal-area weighted community wood density (n=8 plots)

Holocene alluvium: 0.51+0.05 g cm-3, basal-area weighted community wood density (n=12 plots)

Madre de Dios, SE Peru

5 km

• Systematic national resource inventories across Amazonia (e.g., RADAM-Brasil, minimum diameter 30cm

Species are also critical for AGB at the continental-scale

(a) floristic gradients (axis 1); (b) (axis 2) (c) community-weighted seed mass (d) community-weighted wood density (e) ectomychorrhizal genera, fraction; (f) Fabaceae, fraction H. Ter Steege et al. 2006, Nature 443: 444-447

Species are critical for AGB at the continental-scale

Forests are more than BIOMASS… Identity is closely related to other key ecosystem

functions

Tree population turnover rates (from 1 to 3% yr-1)

Tree species compositional gradient (axis 1)

Quesada et al. 2012, Biogeosciences Ter Steege et al. 2006, Nature

Most trees die broken and fallen

Many trees die standing

Key challenges for ground data quality 1. Technical challenges: • 1.1 Timing • 1.2 Accuracy: tree measured above buttress; point of

measurement noted, and painted; height measured by trained operators

• 1.3 Species Identity

2. Human challenges • Replicability & accountability (e.g., peer review) • Pan-tropical teamwork and standards • Training • Sharing

Pan-tropical teamwork (standardised protocols: many people, plots,

institutions)

CTFS-ForestGEO, 61 large dynamics plots, ca. 30

tropical

RAINFOR (Red Amazonica de Inventarios Forestales), 500 biomass & dynamics plots

AfriTRON (African Tropical

Forest Observation

Network) >250 biomass plots

RAINFOR: Partners

Noel Kempff 2001,6,7,9,11 TAMBOPATA 2002,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11

Bogi 2002,7,10,11

IQUITOS 2001,5,6,8,9,10,11 Manaus

2002,5,6,10,11 Caxiuana

2002,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11

Branganca 2002

Tapajos 2003 Jatun Sacha 2002,7,10,11

Acre 2003,9 Sinop 2002,13

San Carlos de Rio Negro 2004,6,12

Jari 2003

Mocambo 2003

El Dorado 2004,9,12

ANDES Transect 2003,6,7,8,9,10

Rio Grande 2004,9,12

Agua Pudre 2004,5,6,11

Alta Floresta 2002,8,11,13

Cusco Amazonico 2003,6,8

Zafire 2005,6,8,9

Mabura Hills 2006,10,12

Jenaro Herrera 2005,6,7,8,11

Dois Irmaos 2003,6,9,11,13

Tiputini 2002,7,10,11

Sacta 2006,9

BEEM 2006,10

Porongaba 2003,6,9,11

Lorena 2004,6,11

Nouragues 2008

Nova Xavantina 2008,10,11,13 Los Amigos 2008

Pasco 2008,10,11

Pto Nare 2010

Carbonera 2009,12 Barinas

2009,12

Pibiri 2006,10,12

Iwokrama 2010,12

Jurua 2003,9,11

Tanguro 2009,10,11

Pto Ayacucho 2012,13

Araracuara 2011

Amargal 2011

Clarines 2009,12

Caparo 2009,12

Catauba 2011 Santana do Araguaia 2011,13

150 campaigns, always with

some training

Guyana Guiana Francaise

Perú Brasil

RAINFOR: Campaigns

uniting 740 researchers from

31 nations

> 2,000,000 measures

11,500 species

1,700 plots

the first in 1939

“Cyberinfrastructure” to cope with complex tree data, and the trust to share them

Participating networks include RAINFOR, AfriTRON, GEM, T-

Forces, TROBIT, ECOFOR, PPBio

Data can be shared or private: the investigator decides

In sum, ground data for BIOMASS requires:

massive replication

synchronous timing

quality measurements species identity

people

Así…

Scientific Networks already do most of this, but need:

* Plot expansion to >4 ha

* New plots in degraded forest * Complementary measurements (e.g. ground

LiDAR) * Funding from 2019

What now?

• Hay un incremento en la biomasa de bosques primarios

Tropical partners of this effort must be valued as full partners.

This includes being adequately trained, equipped, insured, and paid.

How much?

• Hay un incremento en la biomasa de bosques primarios

Tropical partners of this effort must be valued as full partners.

This includes being adequately trained, equipped, insured, and paid.

Costs in remote, high-diversity, high-biomass tropical forests: €15,000 per ha: Botanical id, herbarium vouchers, height, permanent plots, peer-reviewed verified data & outputs, proper training, tight quality control, global co-ordination.

• If a central 1 ha is expanded to include surrounding 3 ha of trees >30 cm d: €30,000 per plot.

• Thus, if 200 plots per tropical continent for calibration and validation, expanded to 4-ha:

600 plots = €18M. Plus allometric work.

How much?

Estimated cost of pan-tropical

calibration and validation: 4 % of BIOMASS mission