Allometric models for aboveground biomass in dry savanna trees of the Sudan and Sudan-Guinean ecosystems of Southern Senegal

AbstractThis paper presents new allometric models for woody savanna of the dry Sudanian zone of the southern part of Senegal and contributes to the needs for accurate and precise carbon estimates through improved statistical models and methods. The results are based on statistical relationships between the total dry biomass and either tree diameter at breast height (DBH) or tree height for a set of 101 individuals of different sizes from 13 dominant species in 6 protected forests. The statistical regression (cubic order 3) generated for DBH (5–41.5 cm) and tree height (2.5–15.6 m) showed significant R2 of 0.934 and 0.813, respectively. Using the same database, species-based models for the most represented genera (Acacia sp., Combretum sp. and Terminalia sp.) show more precision than the generic model. The model residual standard error and relative errors showed a good fit between observed and predicted data. Species-based models showed smaller errors compare to generic models outputs.Keywords: Aboveground biomassAfricaAllometric modelSavannaSenegal AcknowledgmentsThe authors are grateful to the SUN EU FP6 INCO-dev no 031685 funded by the European Union. Thanks to Assane Goudiaby, Idrissa Guiro and Mamadou Diop for their technical support.