Tree Allometrics

Populus balsamifera / Foliage biomass

Canadian national equation, balsam poplar, dbh and height (foliage; Table 4)

Foliage biomassPopulus balsamifera · SalicaceaeCanadaRead from the original paper
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Equation

As printed (Eq. 3)

y foliage = β foliage1D βfoliage2Hβfoliage3 + efoliage

In this library's units, ready to compute (kg)

Foliage biomass = 0.0617 * D^1.8615 * H^(-0.5375)
D
Diameter at breast height (1.3 m), cm
H
Total tree height, m

Foliage is leaves and twigs. r2 is the adjusted R² (AdjRSq) of this compartment in Table 5. Fitted on the original scale (weighted nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression), so there is no back-transform correction. Dead branches, cones and fruits are not part of aboveground biomass in this work (Materials). Stand type was not always recorded. Ung, Bernier & Guo (2008) later revised parameters for some species with British Columbia data; not used here.

Source
bfoliage1 0.0617
Equation · Table 4, Balsam poplar
bfoliage2 1.8615
Equation · Table 4, Balsam poplar
bfoliage3 –0.5375
Equation · Table 4, Balsam poplar
Balsam poplar 207 21.5±0.8 16.3±0.4 199.6±16.1
Trees measured · Table 2 (No. of trees)
(2.0;53.2) (3.3;27.0) (0.5;1516.3)
Smallest DBH · Table 2, Balsam poplar (ranges of dbh, height, total biomass)
Foliage 0.0005 0.68 2.3 2.97 0.0010 0.69 2.3 2.69
R² · Table 5, Balsam poplar (AdjRSq in the dbh- and height-based set, second block)
Trees measured
207
DBH range
2–53.2 cm
Height range
3.3–27 m
R²
0.69
Method
Nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression with weight functions; additivity constrained so compartments sum to total
Where
Canada: Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Saskatchewan (ENFOR archival data, early 1980s)
Last checked
2026-11-03
Calculate
Height from
3.8
Foliage biomass (kg)
1.79
Carbon (kg), ×0.47
6.55
CO₂e (kg), ×44/12
Fitted DBH range02468101214510152025303540DBH (cm)Foliage biomass (kg)Foliage biomass

Shaded: the DBH range the model was fitted on. Other inputs held at the values above.

Checks this equation passes

On every build, the library's form and the paper's own form (in its units) must both give these values within 1%.

InputsExpectedWe getFrom
D = 20, H = 153.83.8Computed from the printed form
computed from the published form at dbh = 20 cm, H = 15 m

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