Review on carbon storage estimation of forest ecosystem and applications in China

Forest Ecosystems

Table 1 Four commonly used methods for estimating vegetation carbon storage based on inventory data

Methods	Description	Basic formula	Data needed	Application Scale
Inventory-based estimation	Average biomass method	Y = A × y × d	Average biomass or average carbon density, carbon content rate, forest area	regional
	Volume- derived method	Y = A × (a × V + b) × d	Stand volume, forest area, carbon content rate	regional
	Biomass regression equation	Y = A × a × (D^bH)^c × d	Diameter at breast height, tree height, forest area, carbon content rate	regional
	Conversion factor continuous method	\(\mathrm{BEF}=a+\frac{b}{V}\) Y = A × V × BEF × d	Stand volume, forest area, carbon content rate	regional

while Y is vegetation carbon storage, A is the forest area, y is average biomass or average density, V is stand volume, D is diameter at breast height, H is tree height, d is carbon content rate of forest, BEF is biomass expansion factor, which was derived from stand volume, a, b, and c are constant changed along with forest types or climatic zones