ChinAllomeTree 1.0: China's normalized tree biomass equation dataset

Abstract. The tree biomass equation, which is also called the tree allometric equation, is the most commonly used method to estimate tree and forest biomass at various spatial-temporal scales because of its high accuracy, efficiency and conciseness. For decades, many tree biomass equations have been reported in diverse types of literature (e.g., journals, books and reports). These scattered equations are being compiled, and tree biomass equation datasets are currently available for many geographical regions (e.g., Europe, North America and Sub-Saharan Africa) and countries (e.g., Australia, Indonesia and Mexico) except for in an important region of the world, Eastern Asia, specifically China. Therefore, in this study, we carried out an extensive survey and critical review of the literature (from 1978–2013) on biomass equations conducted in China and developed China’s normalized tree biomass equation dataset (ChinAllomeTree version 1.0). This dataset consists of 5,924 biomass component equations for nearly 200 species and their associated background information (e.g., geographical location, climate and stand description), showing sound geographical, climatic and forest vegetation coverages across China. The dataset is freely available at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.895244 for noncommercial scientific applications, which fills an important regional gap in global biomass datasets and provides key parameters for biomass estimation in forest inventory and carbon accounting in China.