Extending harmonized national forest inventory herb layer vegetation cover observations to derive comprehensive biomass estimates

Forest Ecosystems

Table 3 Mean C and N contents (% of dry biomass) with standard deviation for six plant groups based on 63 samples per plant group, i.e. 7 samples in 9 strata of elevation class (< 601, 601–1200, > 1200 m) and focal region (North-East, North-West, South)

Plant group	C-content (% ± SD)	N-content (% ± SD)
Small herbs	41.55 ± 1.61	2.31 ± 0.59
Tall herbs	40.08 ± 2.72	2.19 ± 0.67
Grasses	43.19 ± 1.39	2.08 ± 0.48
Sedges	43.78 ± 0.67	1.82 ± 0.33
Ferns	44.69 ± 1.07	1.88 ± 0.38
Shrubs - leaves	45.90 ± 1.23	2.04 ± 0.57
Shrubs - woody	46.99 ± 1.74	1.06 ± 0.52
Overall mean incl. Woody parts of shrubs	43.38 ± 2.73	1.89 ± 0.63
Overall mean excl. Woody parts of shrubs	43.20 ± 2.46	2.05 ± 0.52