%0 Journal Article
%T Mixed Species Allometric Models for Estimating above-Ground Liana Biomass in Tropical Primary and Secondary Forests, Ghana
%A Patrick Addo-Fordjour
%A Zakaria B. Rahmad
%J ISRN Forestry
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/153587
%X The study developed allometric models for estimating liana stem and total above-ground (TAGB) biomass in primary and secondary forests in the Asenanyo Forest Reserve, Ghana. Liana biomass was determined for 50 individuals for each forest using destructive sampling. Various predictors involving liana diameter and length were run against liana biomass in regression analysis, and , RMSE, and Furnival's index of fit (FI) were used for model comparison. The equations comprised models fitted to untransformed and log-transformed data. Forest type had a significant influence ( ) on liana allometric models in the current study, resulting in the development of forest-type-specific equations. There were significant and strong linear relationships between liana biomass and the predictors in both forests ( ). Liana diameter was a better predictor of biomass than liana length. Generally, the models which were based on log-transformed data showed better fit (higher FI values) than those fitted to untransformed data. Comparison of the site specific models in the current study with previously published models indicated that the models of the current study differed from the previous ones. This indicates the need for forest specific equations to be used for accurate determination of above-ground liana biomass. 1. Introduction Lianas are important structural component of tropical forests [1]. They perform a number of ecological functions which help to sustain tropical forest ecosystems [2]. Lianas add substantially to plant assemblages in tropical forests in terms of number of species [3] and stem density [4]. Apart from contributing directly to species diversity in tropical forests, lianas also play a number of roles which contribute to maintain diversity of other organism [5]. Due to relatively high dominance of lianas in tropical forests, they also contribute a lot to forest biomass, especially in heavy liana infested forests. Specifically, lianas can accumulate as high as 30% of total above-ground biomass in tropical forest ecosystems [2]. Comparatively, lianas devote much less biomass for stem support than tress, and therefore, they are able to allocate more biomass for their growth compared with trees [2, 5]. Consequently, lianas have higher biomass growth than trees [6]. Lianas allocate more biomass for leaf production than the amount of biomass allocated to their stems. Because lianas allocate less biomass to their stems they produce less dense wood compared to trees [7]. Estimating tropical forest biomass and determining its dynamics are important aspects of
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.forestry/2013/153587/