HR: 1340h
AN: B53B-1170    [Abstracts]
TI: A cross-scale remote sensing approach to estimate tree cover and aboveground biomass in pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Colorado Plateau, USA
AU: * Huang, C
EM: choying@stanford.edu
AF: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
AU: Asner, G
EM: gpa@stanford.edu
AF: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
AU: Martin, R
EM: remartin@stanford.edu
AF: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
AU: Barger, N
EM: Nichole.Barger@colorado.edu
AF: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Ramaley N285 Campus Box 334, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AU: Neff, J
EM: Jason.C.Neff@colorado.edu
AF: Geological Sciences Department & Environmental Studies Program, University of Colorado, Benson Earth Sciences Building, Campus Box 399, 2200 Colorado Ave, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
AB: Vegetation dominated by pinyon pines and junipers (pinyon-juniper [P-J] woodlands) is one of the largest vegetation types in the North America. P-J woodlands maintain the highest level of woody biomass compared to other major dryland ecosystems. However, distributions of tree cover and biomass in the P-J woodlands of the Colorado Plateau have not been well studied. Here we developed a synoptic remote sensing approach to scale up pinyon pine and juniper cover and biomass field observations from plot to regional levels using fractional photosynthetic vegetation cover (PV) derived from airborne imaging spectroscopy and Landsat satellite data. Our results demonstrated strong correlations (p < 0.001) between field and airborne tree canopy cover estimates (r² = 0.92), and between airborne and satellite canopy cover estimates (r² = 0.61). Field data also indicated that P-J aboveground biomass can be estimated from canopy cover using a unified allometric equation (r² = 0.69, p < 0.001). Using these multi-scale, cover-biomass relationships, we developed high-resolution, regional-scale maps of P-J cover and biomass for the western Colorado Plateau. The mean (± standard deviation) P-J cover was 27.4 (± 9.9)%, and the mean aboveground woody carbon (C) converted from biomass was 5.2 (± 2.0)MgC/ha. Combining our data with the southwest Regional Gap Analysis Program vegetation map, we estimated that total contemporary woody C storage for the entire Colorado Plateau P-J woodlands (113,600 km²) is 59 TgC. Our results facilitate further investigation of the processes controlling carbon stocks and fluxes across this large region, which forms a key component of the North American Carbon Program (NACP).
DE: 0315 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0426, 1610)
DE: 0330 Geochemical cycles (1030)
DE: 0428 Carbon cycling (4806)
DE: 3339 Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312, 4504)
DE: 4806 Carbon cycling (0428)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting