think climate. think change.
Department of Climate Change
Peter Snowdon, John Raison, Heather Keith, Peter Ritson, Pauline Grierson, Mark Adams, Kelvin Montagu, Hui-quan Bi, William Burrows and Derek Eamus, August 2002
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Estimation of the biomass and carbon content of Australian forest and woodland ecosystems and its rate of change is an important goal of the National Carbon Accounting System. This protocol describes field methods for estimating above-ground and root biomass of woody vegetation. It complements the protocols developed for estimating carbon in soils and litter (McKenzie et al. 2001), and the synthesis of national information on wood density (Ilic et al. 2000).
Methods are described for the excavation and measurement of biomass of root crowns and major roots of individual trees. Complementary methods are given for sampling small and/or distal roots. Four case studies are provided as examples.
