Tree Allometrics

Betula papyrifera / Foliage biomass

Canadian national equation, white birch, dbh only (foliage; Table 3)

Foliage biomassBetula papyrifera · BetulaceaeCanadaRead from the original paper
Photo of Betula papyrifera
Dezene Huber · CC0 · iNaturalist
Equation

As printed (Eq. 2)

y foliage = β foliage1D βfoliage2 + efoliage

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

Foliage biomass = 0.0546 * D^1.6351
D
Diameter at breast height (1.3 m), cm

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 0.0546
Equation · Table 3, White birch
bfoliage2 1.6351
Equation · Table 3, White birch
White birch 606 16.4±0.4 13.3±0.2 152.0±7.1
Trees measured · Table 2 (No. of trees)
(1.5;43.6) (2.6;23.9) (0.4;1020.8)
Smallest DBH · Table 2, White birch (ranges of dbh, height, total biomass)
Foliage 0.0088 0.58 3.8 2.46 0.0135 0.60 3.7 2.27
R² · Table 5, White birch (AdjRSq in the dbh-based set, first block)
Trees measured
606
DBH range
1.5–43.6 cm
R²
0.58
Method
Nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression with weight functions; additivity constrained so compartments sum to total
Where
Canada: Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (ENFOR archival data, early 1980s)
Last checked
2026-11-03
Calculate
7.32
Foliage biomass (kg)
3.44
Carbon (kg), ×0.47
12.6
CO₂e (kg), ×44/12
Fitted DBH range0510152025510152025303540DBH (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 = 207.327.32Computed from the printed form
computed from the published form at dbh = 20 cm

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