Estimating Fuel Biomass of Some Shrub Species (Maquis) in Turkey

Authors: BÜLENT SAĞLAM, ÖMER KÜÇÜK, ERTUĞRUL BİLGİLİ, BAHAR DİNÇ DURMAZ, İSMAİL BAYSAL

Abstract: Regression equations were developed to estimate shrub fuel biomass of a maquis formation in western Turkey. The relationships between some shrub characteristics and live, dead, available (for consumption), and total fuel biomass were determined by simple/multiple linear regression. Measured biomass values for live, available, and total fuels varied from 0.70 to 6.74 kg m^{-2}, from 0.78 to 3.03 kg m^{-2}, and from 1.06 to 7.72 kg m^{-2}, respectively. The results obtained indicated that shrub fuel biomass could be satisfactorily predicted using the regression equations generated. The resulting equations were able to account for 60% to 89% of the observed variation (P < 0.05) in the fuel biomass categories studied. The results of this study should be invaluable in many forestry disciplines, including ecology, protection, and management.

Keywords: Fuel biomass, regression equations, shrubland, maquis, Turkey

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