Estimating herbaceous plant biomass in mountain grasslands: a comparative study using three different methods

Redjadj, Claire; Duparc, Antoine; Lavorel, Sandra; Grigulis, Karl; Bonenfant, Christophe; Maillard, Daniel; Saïd, Sonia; Loison, Anne

doi:10.1007/s00035-012-0100-5

Cited by 27 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…Our results are in agreement with the findings of Döbert et al (2015), who found that even a semi-quantitative assessment based on Braun-Blanquet scale can provide a reliable proxy for aboveground biomass. Similar to our results, Redjadj et al (2012) also found that visual cover estimation can be accurate in estimating biomass, although they estimated biomass directly (and not cover), and estimation procedure was preceded by a training series. The relatively weak performance of point intercept method found in our study is in contrast to comparative studies that found good accuracy for this method (Byrne et al 2011, Godínez-Alvarez et al 2009).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…For all datasets, the relationships between biomass proxies as explanatory variables (visually estimated cover, number of point hits, or NDVI) and harvested biomass as dependent variable were tested by linear regression (Faraway, 2005), in accordance with numerous relevant studies (Jonasson, 1988, Redjadj et al 2012, Röttgermann et al 2000. The accuracy of the studied proxies was characterized by the coefficient of determination (R 2 ).…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Field spectroscopy is characterized by objectivity and quickness (Byrne et al 2011, Milton et al 2009), but it provides only a cumulative estimate for vegetation abundance as it cannot differentiate between species or life forms. While many studies apply one of these methods for estimating aboveground biomass, there are very few studies that compare different methods (Godínez-Alvarez et al 2009, Sykes et al 1983) and even fewer test the accuracy of multiple methods in estimating biomass (Byrne et al 2011, Redjadj et al 2012, Whitbeck and Grace, 2006. No studies to date have compared all the three major methods, the visual cover estimation, the point intercept, and the field spectroscopy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparing the accuracy of three non-destructive methods in estimating aboveground plant biomass

et al. 2017

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Abstract:Aboveground plant biomass is one of the most important features of ecosystems, and it is widely used in ecosystem research. Non-destructive biomass estimation methods provide an important toolkit, because the destructive harvesting method is in many cases not feasible. However, only few studies have compared the accuracy of these methods in grassland communities to date. We studied the accuracy of three widely used methods for estimation of aboveground biomass: the visual cover estimation method, the point intercept method, and field spectroscopy. We applied them in three independent series of field samplings in semi-arid sand grasslands in Central Hungary. For each sampling method, we applied linear regression to assess the strength of the relationship between biomass proxies and actual aboveground biomass, and used coefficient of determination to evaluate accuracy. We found no evidence that the visual cover estimation, which is generally considered as a subjective method, was less accurate than point intercept method or field spectroscopy in estimating biomass. Based on our three datasets, we found that accuracy was lower for the point intercept method compared to the other two methods, while field spectroscopy and visual cover estimation were similar to each other in the semi-arid sand grassland community. We conclude that visual cover estimation can be as accurate for estimating aboveground biomass as other approaches, thus the choice amongst the methods should be based on additional pros and cons associated with each of the method and related to the specific research objective. Nomenclature:The Plant List (2010).

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparing the accuracy of three non-destructive methods in estimating aboveground plant biomass

et al. 2017

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“…The relationships between biomass proxies and harvested biomass were tested by linear regression models for each year separately (Faraway, 2005) in accordance with numerous similar methodological studies (Redjadj et al, 2012;Röttgermann et al, 2000). Goodness of the fitted calibration lines was measures by coefficient of determination (R 2 ) and root mean squared error (RMSE).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating aboveground herbaceous plant biomass via proxies: The confounding effects of sampling year and precipitation

Ónodi

Kertész

Kovács-Láng

et al. 2017

Ecological Indicators

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Direct measurements of aboveground plant biomass are often not feasible, thus various biomass proxies are in use. To obtain biomass estimates, these proxies are calibrated against actual biomass, and the resulting proxy-biomass relationship is often used across multiple years and experimental treatments within a study. We investigated how the proxy-biomass relationship varied across years and considered interannual precipitation variability as a contributing factor.We sampled a perennial grassland for ten consecutive years (2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012) in central Hungary and estimated vegetation cover and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI); two frequently used biomass proxies representing two contrasting methods. Aboveground live herbaceous plant biomass was harvested from each plot after sampling, and regression models were used to assess the relationship between biomass proxies and actual aboveground biomass.We found that cover and NDVI were equally effective at estimating biomass. However, the relationship between either biomass proxy and actual biomass varied amongst years, and this was related to the amount of precipitation. In wetter years, proxy-biomass relationships were steeper than in drier years.These results indicate that using the same proxy-biomass relationship across different years or precipitation regimes may not be valid and may introduce systematic error into biomass estimations in long-term studies or precipitation manipulation experiments. Keywords aboveground plant biomass, field spectroscopy, interannual validity, long-term studies, NDVI, precipitation, proxy-biomass relationship, visual cover estimation Nomenclature The Plant List (2010) 4

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“…At this time, leaf damage is not only most relevant from the point of view of agriculture, but also from the ones of ecology and conservation, simply because subsequent mowing and grazing remove large parts of the host plants and pathogens. In addition to taking vegetation records, in each plot we harvested biomass 4 cm above ground in a randomly selected area of 0.5 m 9 0.5 m to assess standing crop (Redjadj et al 2012). At the same time, in the 215 parcels we collected one leaf of each of ten plants of the three functional plant groups graminoids (Poaceae, Carex, and Luzula), legumes, and non-legume forbs (except for thistles and orchids).…”

Section: Leaf Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Omnipresence of leaf herbivory by invertebrates and leaf infection by fungal pathogens in agriculturally used grasslands of the Swiss Alps, but low plant damage

et al. 2012

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Agriculturally used grasslands in the Alps are characterised by a trade-off between high fodder production in some and high plant species richness in others. In contrast to plant species richness and production, however, little is known on the relevance of biological interactions between plants, invertebrate herbivores, and fungal pathogens for grasslands in the Alps. At the time when the vegetation was fully developed, but prior to agricultural use, we examined whether leaf damage by herbivory and fungal pathogen infection, and their diversity, are affected by plant functional group, land use, and altitude. Moreover, we studied whether extent and diversity of leaf damage are related to each other, to plant species richness, and to standing crop. We recorded the leaf area damaged by ten types of herbivory and five types of fungal pathogen infection on 12,054 plant leaves of legumes, other forbs, and graminoids collected in 215 grassland parcels in 12 valleys in the Swiss Alps. With 83 % of all leaves infested, herbivory and fungal pathogen infection were omnipresent. However, only 2.7 % leaf area was damaged by herbivory and 1.2 % by fungal pathogens. Damage by herbivory was highest on legumes, and damage by fungal pathogens was highest on graminoids. More leaf damage by herbivory occurred in traditionally mown sites and at lower altitudes, while damage by fungal pathogen infection was independent of land use and altitude. Most types of herbivory were found on legumes and on leaves from fertilised sites, whereas the number of fungal pathogen types was highest on graminoids and in unfertilised sites. Larger standing crop was associated with higher leaf damage and diversity of herbivory types per leaf. Neither damage by herbivory nor by fungal pathogens was correlated with plant species diversity. In more plant species rich parcels, the number of herbivory types was lower at the leaf level, but tended to be higher at the parcel level. Our results highlight the omnipresence of plant-herbivore and plant-pathogen interactions. They suggest that current land use changes from mowing to grazing or to abandonment decrease the diversity of herbivory, and that fertilisation decreases pathogen diversity. As our results did not reveal conservation conflicts between diversities of plants, herbivores, and fungal pathogens, and as the damage from herbivory and pathogens is generally low, we conclude that for protecting the high diversity of plant-herbivore and plant-pathogen interactions a diverse low-intensity land use should be maintained.

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Estimating herbaceous plant biomass in mountain grasslands: a comparative study using three different methods

Cited by 27 publications

References 21 publications

Comparing the accuracy of three non-destructive methods in estimating aboveground plant biomass

Comparing the accuracy of three non-destructive methods in estimating aboveground plant biomass

Estimating aboveground herbaceous plant biomass via proxies: The confounding effects of sampling year and precipitation

Omnipresence of leaf herbivory by invertebrates and leaf infection by fungal pathogens in agriculturally used grasslands of the Swiss Alps, but low plant damage

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