Estimating above-ground biomass of natural stands of Mirbeck’s oak(Quercus canariensis Willd.) in Kroumirie, North West of Tunisia

Abstract: Today, facing climatic changes, monitoring forests to promote their productivepotentialities and develop adequate improvement and development strategies, is of greatimportance. Forest change characterization resorts to measure various biometric and/or weightparameters such as: density, terrestrial area, diameter or circumference at breast height (DBH),leaf area index, biomass, etc. In the mountain forests of Kroumirie, where natural Mirbeck’s oak(Quercus canariensis) grows, ten study plots of 1ha each were selected in 4 different stations,and the DBH of all the trees measured. Ten trees representative of the main diameter classes werethen harvested and their dry-biomass measured. Their diameter ranged from 4.8 to 48.4cm, totalheight from 4.5 to18.3m and dry-weight from 5.9 to 1989.1kg. Equations between the differentcompartmental biomasses and the other tree parameters were developed and tested statistically.Non-linear models based on trunk diameter (DBH) alone explained more than 98% of thebiomass variation. Coefficients of determination (R2) ranged from 0.89 to 0.98. Equations forwood trunk and foliage biomasses showed higher R² than did that of bark trunk, branches, twigsand buds or total branch biomasses of this deciduous tree species.